Solitaire
by Nenilein
Summary: One year after the end of Inaba Serial Murder case, the former members of the self-proclaimed Investigation Team are preparing to move on with their lives and go their separate ways. But some can move easier than others and so life can become a battle between the desire to grow and the desire to stay... How to fit all cards into place for the next stage of the game?
1. Prologue - The Crystal Corridor

**Prologue**

_Dark hallways made of glass continued into what seemed to be an endless void. The mirror walls reflected each other, casting illusions and images, some of which seemed familiar, some of which seemed foreign. Their slight vibrations also carried sounds. Some of them sounded like unintelligible whispers, others were footsteps. _

_It was in that place that I met the white-haired girl in the blue dress._

"_Oh, what a surprise. I did not expect to have an encounter with someone else here," she said to me with an ever-calm smile on her lips._

_I asked her what she was doing here._

"_If you are asking for my business in this place, it would be honest to say that I have none," she replied, gazing upon the many mirrors in the corridor. "This world isn't mine to be. It appears to be one of the many worlds existing within people's dreams, a private world, connecting individuality to the greater realm created by all souls."_

_A private world? Does this mean that we are in someone's dream?_

"_Indeed, it appears so."_

_Whose dream? Mine?_

"_Hm, possibly…" But she started to shake her head while she was still talking, "…No. On second thought, this appears unlikely. Clearly, you would not be the master of this realm."_

_Even though she claimed it was 'clear' she didn't bother to explain why that was. I didn't try to ask. That wasn't what I was wondering. If this wasn't my dream, then whose dream was it? Hers? No, that didn't seem likely…_

"_No, this dream is not mine. However, you are correct in assuming that it is unusual that we would meet in such a place. Technically speaking, it is truly outrageous for us to be here. It should not be possible."_

_Even so, we were still here. That didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. How can you be in a place that you can't be in? Isn't that a contradiction?_

"_I politely advise you to speak for yourself," the girl told me. "You must know, life itself holds many natural contradictions. One might even say that it is this continued struggle between opposites that gives it its radiance."_

_What does that have to do with anything?_

_She smirked, "What I am saying is that despite the irregularity of me being in this place, I do in fact have a reason to be here. I came to this place in order to investigate."_

_When she said this, the girl turned away from me. She put one of her gloved hands on the glass walls of the corridors and led it along it. Her reflection in the glass did the same – and yet, somehow it appeared to move a little oddly._

"_This place is clearly the world of a mind," she explained. "Yet, for some reason it seems be extraordinarily young and unusually unstable given the state it is in. For such a young realm to be structured into such a clear image… And this isn't the only irregular feature of this place."_

_It is irregular? In what way?_

"_This place… Has a connection that should not exist," for the first time since she started talking, the girl dropped her smile. "It has a window to something that has been hidden deep, deep within people's hearts… Something that may never be touched. It is the source of everything that is contrary to time, reality and life itself. A force that has created the world and may just as well destroy it."_

_I think I know what that means... Something in me feels like I had heard of something like this before._

"_Of course you would know of it," the girl told me. "Like many others, you were born to protect this force from being touched. Just like I was born to serve the Velvet Room."_

_But you aren't in the Velvet Room. And I haven't been doing a whole lot of protecting stuff down here lately to be honest._

"_Then perhaps, that is the reason why you are here," she suggested to me._

_Then, she lifted up that heavy book I knew so well, which she had been carrying under her arms. She pulled a card from it – it had a picture of the moon on it – and placed it on the wall. At once, the mirror changed. Instead of showing the girl's reflection, it now showed the image of a small town by night to us. …Our town?_

"_Oh? I knew this scenery was familiar… So it was Yaso-Inaba, indeed! My intuition has not failed me! Eureka, I say."_

_I don't understand._

"_People's dreams exist to let people sort through their memories and ideals, both good and bad. They cleanse their minds of negativity which otherwise would rob the world within their hearts of the power to suppress the desire for death. Yet, contrary to this purpose, the world of this dream possesses a small window straight into what could be considered the heart of death itself."_

_That is odd. So, the person dreaming their dreams here is hoping to die?_

"_It doesn't quite appear to be this way. The window is usually closed. Much more than an expression of a latent wish, it may be a remainder of this place's creation."_

_A remainder of this place's creation?_

"_Though, it may also be both, a memento as well as a hidden ideal," she admitted to me. "If so, that would pose a minor setback to the goal of my journey, of course."_

_I still don't understand it. What makes this place special? What does it have to do with Inaba? Or with me?_

_She didn't answer me right away. Instead she kept looking at the image of Inaba before us. It looked like a still picture at first, but upon closer inspection, it was moving. There were some people in the streets, all in pairs, greeting each other, some talking, some laughing with each other. Some of the windows had the silhouettes of people doing things behind closed curtains drawn on them. And Junes was lit brightly by the store lights._

"_The Moon Arcana," the white-haired girl finally started talking again. "It reveals mysteries and fantasies, as well as doubts and illusions. That it would show an image of this town by night… Especially such a beautiful image."_

_So that person's doubts are… Inaba?_

"_Of course you would understand how this would all connect to you in this case, would you not?"_

_I nodded. Of course I knew that. That was the most obvious thing to me. But did that mean that this 'irregular' place was the dream of someone living in Inaba?_

_Again, that girl stayed silent for a bit. We kept looking at the image of the town in the mirror. This pretty, moving panorama of the town the others and I liked so much. With a cloudless, starry sky and the round, full moon shining over it…_

…_The full moon?_

"_The window in this place… I have observed that it opens just the slightest bit once every month, for just one or two nights…"_

_I turned my head to look at the girl in blue. She kept focused on the mirror and continued to speak,_

"_Dreams are forgotten easily. Many have to be forgotten in order for the dreamer to be able to face the world by daylight, unhindered by the shadows of night. And yet it is worrying that a place of wishes, such as this one, should be so dangerously close to the heart of death itself… Even if only when struck by the rays of the full moon."_

_The rays of the full moon…_

_While I was still trying to make sense of what her words meant, all too suddenly, there was a sound. A loud, shrill sound, as if something in far distance has broken. I wanted to turn and see if any of the mirrors in the corridor had shattered when something around me changed rapidly. It was as if a wave of freezing cold air had swept through the whole hall, freezing the walls and floors. What was going on here? The air was so cold, my legs and arms were freezing and it hurt to breathe. Was this even still glass? It felt like walking barefoot on ice. And before I knew it, the glass all around us was tainted crimson red, as if splattered by blood. I heard the blue girl's voice again._

"_Huh… Oh my…"_

_I turned to look at her, but what I caught sight of what the image of Inaba… unlike the rest of the mirror hall, it wasn't frozen, but more or less the same as before. Except that now, the people in it were no longer moving. Idly they starred right out of the image, at us. Their eyes were harsh and cold, as if they were judging and rejecting whoever they were looking at. And slowly, a blanket of fog started to form over the town. This felt… familiar…_

_I clenched my hands close to my chest and tried to breath normally, but grew harder and harder. No, this wasn't just my imagination. What I was sensing was clear and loud, and much more piercing and painful than the cold aired I had mistaken it for at first. This was… a person's wish._

_No… this was stupid. This freezing feeling… Was this really a wish? Why would a person wish for something like this…? It just makes no sense!_

"_But I already told you, didn't I? Life itself holds many natural contradictions. One might even say that it is this continued struggle between opposites that gives it its radiance."_

_Yes, you said that. Exactly that._

"_Then I must wonder why you are still surprised that-"_

_Shut up._

"_Huh…? My… You do not look too well, I must say. __Are__you quite alright?"_

_There are voices…_

_- I clutched my head in my hands as I was hearing them. –_

_Voices… of people…_

_I tried to clench my teeth and bit my tongue so hard, I could swear I would draw blood. But that wasn't even what made me scream, no. The whispers from earlier, which started out so gentle and calm, had turned into something else. Now they were yelling at me, shouting out sentences in angry, desperate, crying voices. I didn't understand. What the hell was this!? All those voices… I knew some of them…_

_No… That couldn't be. Those couldn't be their voices! There was just no way…_

"_Oh my… it seems that this place was indeed connected to Inaba after all… fascinating."_

_What does this mean!? You said this was the world of someone's dreams! Then why are there so many voices!? All in the heart of just one person!?_

"_I already explained, did I not? This place is irregular among the minds of people."_

_A person with more than one voice!? There is nobody like that in Inaba!_

"_Maybe there isn't. But perhaps…"_

_She didn't give me more of an answer. I made an attempt to raise my head and open my eyes, so I could look her in the eyes while telling her just how much exactly I was done with her stupid, dumb talking in riddles. What I saw when I finally did manage to get my head up made me wish I hadn't managed at all._

_The mirrors absolutely weren't doing what mirrors were supposed to do anymore. There were people all around… No, they weren't people. They were Images. Images that looked like people I knew and also people I didn't know… And they were doing things together… to each other… so many scenes, that didn't appear to connect at all. Cruel scenes. People fighting, yelling, hurting each other… Were these the sources of these voices…? The voices that just kept echoing louder and louder in my head, hurting more and more?_

_I didn't want to see this, but for some reason, I also couldn't stop looking. I watched the scenes playing out before me in chaos, things I knew couldn't happened, hadn't ever happened… Why was any of this happening!?_

"_Is it so surprising? This is a realm of dreams after all."_

_Then these are nightmares…?_

"…_On the other hand, you must also understand that right now the window is open."_

_She was smiling again. Right now, that alone made me feel like smacking her in the face, but I couldn't move well enough to do that._

"_People's thoughts are linear, existing in the progression of time… But the world in people's hearts does not obey that same rule. It is timeless, an eternity where all moments are one. And right now, this place is connected ever so weakly to the deepest abyss that lies beyond this eternity… This moment, where time has no meaning in this world occurs here once every month, yet it is the same moment every time. What you see may be dreams or memories of either the past…"_

_-That moment, the mirrors vibrated under my feet, shook by the scream of a boy's voice. It was different from the other voices. It felt more real, as if it were actually alive. And then, much too quickly, the voices stopped entirely. Silence returned. The pain in my head stopped._

"…_Or of the future."_

_That girl had taken her time to finish the sentence. I was still listening to her when I could finally stand up straight. My eyes were wide open when looked at what was before me. The people… The images that had been screaming and fighting wildly just a moment ago were now all motionless bodies on the ground. Those whose faces I could see had their eyes opened and they were empty, with no sign of light in them..._

_Only two figures were still standing on their feet, right among all of the still bodies. They were two boys at the end of the corridor. I didn't know the taller one of them, but he had his hands placed on the shorter boys' shoulders. The shorter boy, I did know. Blonde hair and bright blue eyes on a youthful face. He was looking straight at me. He knew I was there. And he slowly shook his head._

_I held my breath._

_There, the boys stood… Several motionless figures right to their feet. They were the bodies of the people I knew. People I knew that boy knew too. Those were… our friends. I slowly raised my head to look at the boy._

_What happened? I asked. Is this a dream? A memory? Did you want this? Did you _do_this?_

_He said nothing, but stared at me and kept shaking his head. I just kept starring back, not understanding what I was seeing. Not wanting to understand._

_The boy stepped back, into the arms of the other, taller boy, the one who was a stranger to me. The eyes of the boy I did know were still fixed on me, as the bodies lying to his feet started to dissolve into the bloodstained mirrors, little by little disappearing…_

_I was trembling when I finally couldn't take it anymore and screamed myself out of the scene, Margaret's sister's hand briefly touching my shoulder before I was gone._

* * *

><p>Mariko Kusumi woke up in a bed that wasn't hers, with a blanket much too heavy for her liking placed on her, in a room that smelt of disinfectants. For a good while she could not make sense of what had just happened and her eyes remained fixed on the ceiling, as the moonlight from the window played with her silhouette on the wall to her right. Slowly, she began to remember where she was and what had happened the day before. Then, the dream she had had. She kept it in her mind, as she lifted her body and tried to breathe, slowly and evenly, calmly. The first thing she did when her thoughts had been gathered was to reach to the small, purple notebook on the nightstand next to her. She took the pen that was clipped to it, opened the book and started writing:<p>

_An endless corridor before me,_  
><em>I hear the voices I can't reach,<em>  
><em>I see the stars that won't shine on me.<em>

_"Can't you see us?" They ask,_  
><em>-As I grope along in darkness.<em>

_"We're with you!" They say,_  
><em>-As their voices grow ever-distant.<em>

_Soon I won't hear or see anything,_

_Should time stop moving and keep me here forever,_  
><em>Would it take away my fear of the shines as well?<em>

_Time will stop moving and I will be here forever,_  
><em>In this nowhere, as nothing, never.<em>


	2. Chapter 1: February 26th

To my friends all over the world,  
>In the Persona Fandom or elsewhere,<br>Who never gave up on me,  
>And always showed me how far I had already come,<br>And how proud I should be of myself,  
>Even when I was selfish,<br>Even when I was overbearing,  
>Even when I was scared of everything,<br>Even when I hated myself.

* * *

><p><em>" One repays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil." <em>

_~Friedrich Nietzsche _

**Chapter 1 - February 26** **th**

This ball-pen of the well-dressed, middle aged man behind the mahogany desk direly needed to be replaced. That fact was quite obvious to anyone hearing the uncomfortable scratching sounds that it made as it was led across the thick paper it was meant to draw symbols onto, and it hurt the otherwise so professional feeling of what was happening here right now little bit. But the boy decided to ignore this fact. It didn't matter how scratchy the pen sounded. This wouldn't change the ultimate outcome. What was happening here would still happen and it would still be what was supposed to happen. Nothing would change the fact that this was exactly how it was meant to be. That this was 'good'.

Yosuke Hanamura kept glancing at his phone's display. Still no new messages, huh? It was about time. They couldn't just have forgotten, right? Not when he had made sure to message them just a few minutes ago. Slowly, he was growing anxious. It may sound odd, coming from him, but if they just didn't care, just ignored this day, this 26th of February… He was sure he wouldn't be able to help himself and be pretty damn angry with them.

It was friendship. And… Brother's instinct.

He let his eyes off the screen and glanced to his side. The other boy's eyes were still firmly trained on the paper that was being written on the desk. Bright blue eyes followed the trail of the pen in excitement. Finally a bleep reached Yosuke's ears. His eyes darted back to his hands, but before he could look at the display once more, he took notice of the disapproving expression of his mother, who shook her head and made a gesture for her son to just put away the device or hand it to her. Begrudgingly, but understanding the situation, Yosuke tugged his phone away - just in time to hear a voice speak up at the end of the pen-scratching's tune.

"With this, the child has been officially registered into the family's Koseki."

Before Yosuke could turn his head to look at the man behind the desk, who had spoken to them, his attention was already drawn by a different voice's high pitched sound. The boy by Yosuke's side was bouncing up and down in excitement and bliss, almost as if he was about to just up and leap out of his seat. The man behind the mahogany desk closed the book he had been writing into and handed it to Yosuke's father,

"Congratulations on the adoption, Sir."

What followed was another celebratory squeal which broke the room's silent mood once and for all and a large smile was cast upon the face of a rather short blonde, as he stood up from his seat, turned around, and leapt straight into the arms of Yosuke's mother. Teddie's joy was both, contagious, but also shaming-inducing to Yosuke. Regardless, it was just the momentary distraction Yosuke needed to pay a look to his phone screen and read the message he had received. A smile spread across his face as well.

* * *

><p>"Oooooooh! It looks so new and shiny!"<p>

The freshly printed plastic card still didn't have a scratch on it. The sunlight reflected on its surface in a glare as Teddie spun around on the staircase as if to present the item to the world and harvest admiration for his new possession. His little commemoratory dance looked everything but safe, but Yosuke didn't even consider stopping him. Teddie was tough and this was by far not the first questionable and stupid stunt he had pulled. A fall down the stairs wouldn't kill that kid, it'd teach him a lesson at most. As long as his - well, now actually - their parents didn't see, it'd be OK. And they wouldn't see. They had gone to fetch the car from the slightly removed parking lot they had left it in. As soon as they would come to pick up the boys the family would return to Inaba. In the meantime, Yosuke could fully devote himself to telecommunication. He felt at ease. If the mails of his friends were to be believed, the preparations at Junes were going well. Good. Now, as long as he could just keep Teddie oblivious-

"Hey, Yosuke! Yooooosuke!"

Slight chills went down Yosuke's back when he suddenly found the touch of a surprisingly delicate hand on his shoulder and the feeling of being watched became all too unavoidable. He didn't need to turn his head to know that Teddie was peaking over his shoulder.

"Aren't you interested at all?! Geez, don't you know what that is? It's an I.D.! That's an **I** mportant **D**ocument! So, respect its importance a little!" As he was speaking, Teddie stretched his neck to catch a glimpse on the screen on Yosuke's phone, "What are you doing there?"

"That's not what I.D. stands for!" Yosuke quickly made an attempt to switch his phone's screen-saver on. "And cut it out! What I'm doing on my phone is none of your business!"

"Were you texting? I see, I see…bearing the glad tidings to everyone before I can get a chance too! You sly, sly fox!"

Eyes wide open, as if marveling at the diabolic qualities of Yosuke's master plan, the boy tried to snatch Yosuke's cellphone from his hands, though he remained unsuccessful. Yosuke was far too skillful with handling the small object to allow for these attempts to come to fruition. Soon, the device was safely stored in Yosuke's pockets and Teddie was pushed away with both hands, making him stumble back a little, so he just barely kept his balance on the stairs. Yosuke stood up straight, giving the blonde a glare.

"I told you to cut it out!" he repeated. "Ever heard of personal space? 'Sides, you got your own phone. If you want to tell the others, why don't you just call them?"

"But I don't want to tell them!" Teddie's face carried a bitter pout. "Yosuke, don't you get it? Big news like these shouldn't be delibeared over something as fickle as a phone, you know! It's much more fun if I surprise them and tell them to the face!"

Yosuke could only counter this by making a face. "Surprise them? Dude, you've been raving about this thing for days! I hardly think it's still gonna come to as a surprise to anyone."

"Well, it definitely won't if you tell them all!"

"Leave your paws off my pockets!"

A struggle erupted between the boys and Yosuke thanked the heavens for his comparably good sense of balance, because unlike Teddie if he were to fall off this stair case, he probably would _not_ get away with a few scratches. After around 30 seconds of dodging the greedy hands trying to seize his pockets, Yosuke found himself back-stepping, almost to the rail-

-It was that moment that Teddie froze in place. The cheeky smile dropped from the boy's face. He pulled back his hands. The speed with which it happened made it seem as if he had been hit by a slight shock.

"…Teddie?" Yosuke carefully left his defensive. "Hey, are you OK?"

Teddie gave Yosuke a confused look, seemingly wanting to ask a question, but not quite sure what to ask. It worried Yosuke, so started approaching the blonde.

He didn't take three steps before an icy-cold feeling hit him, spreading through his whole body. The light in the area was dimming quickly and the air growing thinner and colder. A feeling of unease and heaviness spread. Dazed by the sudden change, Yosuke found himself stumbling. He was just losing his balance and about to trip down the staircase, when Teddie snapped out of his freeze-up and reacted by leaping forward and grabbing on to the taller boy's arm. Becoming steady again, Yosuke straightened his back and looked around.

This wasn't a change in location. The city hall was still behind them and the street layout and buildings were the same as before. Yet, it felt as if they were in a different place entirely. The colors seemed as if they had been drained. The light had changed, the warmth of the early spring sun had but vanished. The sickening feeling in the air was just all too familiar…

A sneaking fear took hold of Yosuke, "No way… Ted… Isn't that?"

"It feels just like…" While Teddie's face didn't take on the same sickishly pale complexion as Yosuke's had upon the sudden change, they both looked about equally worried and alarmed. Then Teddie's ears perked and he turned his head. "Y-Yosuke! Over there!"

The tone in Teddie's voice already gave Yosuke a horrible feeling in his stomach. This premonition was unfortunately all but proven right when he turned his attention to whatever had caused Teddie to shout. With a gulp Yosuke stepped higher and back on the stairs.

"Oh crap!"

What the boys found themselves faced with did not make them feel any safer in their skins. Goo-like masses with arms were crawling they direction, pulling themselves along the floor, dragging, yet speeding, the yellow eyes behind white, expressionless masks glowing, menacing.

"Shadows…"

Teddie's voice carried alarm, but hardly as much fear as one would have expected. The days that a couple of mooks easily scared him into submission were long over. Still, this was a rather unsettling sight.

"What the hell are they doing here!?" Yosuke asked the very legitimate question. "I thought these were supposed to stay over on the other side now! Unless…"

"It's not good if Shadows are here! They're gonna throw off the balance and make a mess of everything!"

While Yosuke's concerns were more of a 'why' nature, Teddie's were clearly more focused on the consequences. What they both were on the same page on about was what their first order of business had to be now…Except, unprepared as they were, they were not exactly sure how to start getting to said goal. Fighting in the human world was rare to them. It didn't help that neither of them was armed; Yosuke didn't carry his knives on him unless deemed absolutely necessary and Teddie wasn't in his bearskin. So for now they were kept busy merely backing off from the quickly approaching enemies. It wasn't until Yosuke failed to consider that the staircase they were on was in fact not endless, and found himself seeking a grip on a decidedly non-grippy "set" of air, that the situation changed.

"Gah…!"

Startled by the sudden unexpected stumble, Yosuke's momentary loss and balance caused him to believe himself to be about to be thrust right into the mass of enemies in the least comfortable way imaginable. In the heat of said jolt, a shattering sound rang out and a flash of light momentarily blighted the area.

At the end of it both, Yosuke found himself in the arms of a 3 meters tall figure and looked sufficiently confused about the situation. It also prompted rather mood-changing laughter from Teddie.

"Pfffhahaha! Yosuke! You were so scared, your Persona came out!"

There were glares of disapproval from Yosuke, "Oh, you shuddup—Wait. My Persona's out?"

At once realizing what this meant, Yosuke leapt off the arms of his carrier, keeping him close behind him. Reaching into his pockets desperately, Yosuke pulled out what he should have resorted to right when the Shadows first appeared: a present from his eighteenth birthday, a five centimeters-long switchblade. It wasn't his twin Kunai, but it was better than nothing.

"Teddie! Focus!"

"Ah-! O-OK, OK!"

Teddie was slow sometimes, but far from dense, and the fact that Yosuke was preparing for battle now was enough to inform him of what he was supposed to do. Briefly focusing –in a quite overdone way, if one might add – the blonde's giant, rocket-shaped guardian was quickly summoned and joined Yosuke's Takehaya-Susano'o in the lines behind the boys. Though still unarmed, now Teddie at least had a way to battle.

"C'mon! _Kamui-Moshiri!_"

Burning up his energies, Teddie commanded his Persona to bombard the enemies with a burst of ice, which spread wide. The ice crystals formed in split seconds, encasing the bodies of the Shadows. Those which didn't manage to break free remained immobilized. Those that did, however, proceeded to direct their angered response right back at the boys. Fortunately, this was a great opportunity to clean through their numbers and one which Yosuke wouldn't miss. Proving that his speed had not left him over the past few months, he dashed, rammed and tore his knife through the bodies of a couple of smaller Shadows, destroying them instantly. He knew the weak points, the right spots to his, to cut and to slice. It was experience. A hunter's wisdom. Yes, even if they both looked like bumbling teenagers on the surface. Teddie and Yosuke were hunters. Well, at least that was how Yosuke liked to think of it.

"You take the ones on the ground, I'm gonna wing-clip the flying ones!"

"Got it!"

The boys' coordination was surprisingly perfect. 'Surprising' in that even they themselves hadn't expected this. It was rare for them to fight in a team of two. Actually, this was the first time they had done so. Yet, they knew each other well enough to coordinate each others moves, predict and plan ahead accordingly. Maybe this was only natural, though. They were brothers, after all. The months had passed and strengthened that fact. Twenty months, to be exact. One and a half years of a shared room, shared duties, shared quarrels, shared pains, shared shenanigans, shared laughs, shared disagreements, shared scoldings… In the end, Koseki were only pieces of paper. Time was real. The fact that they were brothers had long been real.

Just like their friendship to Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi, despite all occasional animosities was very much real. Just like the friendship to Kanji Tatsumi, regardless of all teasing. And the bond with Rise Kujikawa. And Naoto Shirogane. And the fact that Yu Narukami, 18 years od age, returned to this town, every few months, without fail. It was home. It was family. A place of mingling for them. Friends. Siblings. Brothers and Sisters. Because time was real and time forged bonds. It brought them together and made them into Hunters of Truth. So what was actually strange about them making such a great combination? Nothing was. It was a simple matter of time. Just like the fall of the last enemy here by their hands was. Inside, they knew this fact. And so, the elation of their approaching success overtook their surprise at their own skills quickly.

The last strike dealt came when the enemy was on its back. All Out. No mercy. A strike from two sides with no hesitation. A knife tore through the monster's soft stomach and two Persona Guardians unleashed their magic. And so, the figure of the dark being soon blurred and dissolved into black smoke, a quickly evaporating puddle of wasted energy. As it did so, changes occurred to the environment. Light returned. The muted colors regained life. The heaviness disappeared from the air. The world seemed to come back alive. Yosuke gazed upon the now clean spot which had held the remains of their foes just a few moments before and took a few deep breaths.

"…What the hell just happened?"

These were the first words that came to his mind after the ordeal had passed and he was allowed to just flip-shut his knife – no blood that could prove the battle had ever occurred had remained on it – and process the bizarre events mentally. This had been their first Shadow Encounter in months and only the second which had happened in the so-called 'real world'. And yet, it was entirely different from the first time; the moment they had defeated the enemies the world had returned to normal, continuing as if nothing had ever happened.

_(What's up with that…?)_ Yosuke found himself thinking.

Searching to find an answer, he turned his attention to Teddie. But soon he had to realize that he wouldn't find it here, and not for the reason one would assume. Before he could even open his mouth to speak, he saw that something was wrong with the boy by his side.

"Yosuke…"

Teddie's expression was unusually dazed now, very unlike what it had been like during the battle. He staggered and swayed. Finally, he leaned over, first placing his head on Yosuke's shoulder, then slipping away and almost falling to the side.

"W-Whoa! Ted?"

Yosuke caught him. After that, Teddie wouldn't respond anymore. He wasn't wounded, or at very least Yosuke couldn't see any wounds on him. His breathing seemed normal as well. What was wrong? It seemed so unlike the little guy, to just tire out in battle. And when Yosuke thought about that, he began to feel worried. Was Teddie really just exhausted? No, when he looked at the boy's sleeping face, something told him that it wasn't that. What told him that? Well, if Yu were here, he would probably call it 'brother's instinct'. Yosuke preferred to think it was hunter's instinct. In truth, it was probably both.

They were a family, after all.


	3. Chapter 2: Headaches

**Chapter 2 - Chie: Standby**

I was never really the girl to wear pretty dresses or jewelry. The funny thing is, though, it wasn't like I didn't want to wear them. I just never felt like I could. After all, what's the point in wearing something that wouldn't look good on me? …Or, maybe, much more than being worried it wouldn't suit me, I was worried I just wouldn't be the type. I actually thought I had outgrown that kind of thinking. And yet, still, all I could do when I opened the wardrobe that morning was stare at that dress.

It was a really pretty one, perfect for the warm spring weather we got so early this year, too. Colorful, with a flower pattern. Not too cutesy. Just a light dress.

I was sitting here, dressed in jeans shorts and a striped top now. I had pinned my hair up behind my head. It was long enough to pull back, but I still couldn't do a ponytail yet. I didn't really mind. What bugged m, was that dress. Or rather, the fact that was still sitting in my closet right now. Untouched. Unworn. It was making me a little mad, actually.

"Do you think Yosuke-kun's father is going to approve?"

I was a little confused when Yukiko said this to me. It was seemingly out of nowhere. I needed to take a look at the table before us to realize what she was talking about. Ohh, right… Her lunchboxes. Those were a regular ritual by now. We made sure to eat them fresh, of course. Still, so far we had always eaten them at different locations, to avoid having them meddle with our more 'important discussions', should something… have gone 'worse than expected' after all. Bringing them to Junes was a first. At least if you didn't count the tragedy that was her first attempt to make them for us.

"Ah, I don't think he is going to mind, you know," I tried to assure Yukiko as she eyed her creations in worry, almost like she was afraid that history could repeat. If she's proven one thing before, it's that her bentou definitely aren't made for surviving some kind of Odyssey. "I mean, we're regulars after all. Eating brought food just for once isn't really gonna do that much damage, right? Plus, we're basically friends of the family!"

"He doesn't actually see us up here all that often, though. I am kind of worried he is going to take my bringing home-made food the wrong way…"

"Heh, I wouldn't worry about that," the voice adding a bit of a giggle to counter Yukiko's pessimism was Rise-chan's. If nothing else, at least she seemed to be in a great mood. "One of the two people we're throwing this party for is Teddie. He's still gonna have room for seconds once we're done with Yukiko-senpai's lunch boxes."

"And that's accounting for how he's probably not even gonna leave anything for us others to start with."

It was Kanji who said that. I still had to remind myself of that fact a lot, because it was actually pretty amazing of how much the way he spoke had changed. Of course, it did go along well with his new look, but it was something I would still need some more time to get used to.

"Like you're the one to talk, Kanji!" Rise again. She sounded a bit less chirpy now. "I bet if it were up to you, you'd probably order seconds before you've even had firsts! Seriously, have you ever seen yourself eat before?"

Kanji did not take hearing that very well. Not that I expected him too. Aaaand, there was his slang again.

"W-Why's it suddenly about me!? You're soundin' like Yosuke-senpai already! And if we're talking 'bout food, shouldn't Chie-senpai be the first one to come up!? I mean-"

-Wait, what? …No. This is not a line to be crossed today, my friend. At once, both my hands were flat on the table and I was standing, leaning into Kanji's direction.

"What do you mean I should come up when we're talking about food? Am I, like, synonymous with 'eating' now, or something?"

There was a red layer of heat on my face, I could feel it. Yukiko's voice came in from the side, as if she was trying to serve as cooling water for my anger, though… She was really not doing too good of a job.

"Well, you have to admit, you do like your meat a lot," she added in a just way too factual tone.

"T-That's beside the point!" Even if she didn't succeed in cooling me down, what she said at least managed to make me almost too embarrassed to argue any further. I kinda hoped that this wasn't her actual goal, however. In the end, I could find enough of my voice again to speak on without stuttering. "Meat is a source of protein! If I want to build some muscle, I'm gonna need a lot of that! Just ask Master Sanada!"

"You and Sanada-san have become really tight lately, huh," Rise-chan tilted her head a little and her locks fell over her shoulders. She brushed them back again immediately. Before I knew it, I was fiddling with my own hair. I wondered if mine would fall like this as well, if it were that long. "Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The two of you do have a lot in common."

I shifted around a little. She was right, of course, but the way she giggled as she says this gave me a slightly uncomfortable feeling. On the one hand, it's Rise-chan, and I really shouldn't mind. On the other hand, if you compare me to him that way…

"Sanada-sensei and I have been training whenever he's had time to be around, that's all. I mean, I really do look up to him! I mean, how couldn't I? Have you seen the guy? He's practically a real life hero! But… I dunno about calling us 'real tight'… I'm really just a disciple, I guess?"

"Well, Akihiko's a pretty amazing guy! I'd love to be closer buddies with him myself. But… hey, what are you getting so embarrassed for, Chie-senpai?" Kanji sounded almost worried when he said my name. Did I make that much of an upset face? "I'm sure a guy like him wouldn't mind if you just called him a friend. He seems pretty cool about that stuff y'know?"

I think I was blushing. This wasn't about friendship. I knew that and Rise-chan did, but Kanji was totally oblivious. Judged by her face, Yukiko was, too. Oh boy. Then again, maybe I was just reading too much into what Rise-chan said? I wasn't sure, so I decide to change the subject.

"A-Anyway. I'm saying I need my protein, but to be honest… I've really been slacking off on training a bit. I wish I could do more. Ugh, stupid exam preps… Thank god it's almost over for good."

"You've been eating less, come to think of it," Yukiko's eyes were on me. Now she too had that worried look. "Is that the reason?"

I felt like shrinking away a little, but I tried not to. It made me feel upset, that now Yukiko too was worried about me. I was fine, really. I've just had some changes in my rhythm.

"If I eat normal right now, I'm just gonna put on fat. So I'm holding back for now. It's just till I've settled into the academy, after all," I admitted to everyone.

"It's commendable that you chose to focus on your studies," Naoto finally decided to join the talk. Up till now, she had only been sitting by the side, silently. "Still, don't forget that leisure is also a human need. You should take the time to exercise if you really want to."

"And we're having a party today! Don't tell me you're planning on dieting through that, too?" Rise's eyes were on me, both cheerful, but also strangely… dangerous. She somehow looked like she was a lurking tiger, only waiting to claw into me the moment I say anything wrong. "A feast without everyone eating all they can isn't a feast!"

"Just how do you manage to stay that slim?" There was a deep jealousy on Yukiko's face as she said that. Oh yes, I am with you, Yukiko. So very much.

Rise-chan just laughed, "I know when to call it a feast and when not. Come on guys, I'm sure you've all got a dinner or two you can sacrifice over this, am I right~?"

The resolve that Naoto's and Rise's words have built in me was wavering again and my voice started to shake, "S-Sacrificing dinner…?"

I can go with a small dinner a night or two, but none at all? Was she serious? And then there was Kanji, who had even less reason to agree with her in first place.

"W-Wait! Who ever said I was gonna sacrifice anything!?"

"Shoo, Kanji! Don't always feel included when girls talk!" Rise-chan argued, but the guy still had an objection left.

"But you said it went for 'all' of us-!"

A bit of a discussion broke out among us, Kanji and Rise-chan right at the center, me arguing along from the side, Yukiko slowly starting to snicker as our accusations got more and more out-there. Naoto-kun just sat by the side and sighed, shaking her head at us.

I found myself again and again trying to take the word with that strange feeling that I had something to prove here on the front of my mind. I knew it was silly. What was I trying to prove? That I didn't feel like getting out of my seat and ordering a large plate of grilled goods right here and now? Yeah, sure, like even I'd believe it if I told myself that. And still… Still, somehow…

My thoughts didn't get further than that. Just as I was about to start some poorly pieced-together excuse to Kanji about how my muscles needed more nutrition than his muscles for overly complex reasons that I didn't actually understand myself, I felt my jeans' pocket vibrating.

"Ah… Hold on for just a sec. I think I got a call."

Our squabble ended much more suddenly than it had started. At once, everyone was silent, watching my slide my phone out of my pocket and flipped it open in my hand. All eyes were on me, and I knew exactly why. Yosuke and Teddie were running a little late already. Not so late that we saw it as a reason to be worried, but still, some time had passed. If anything had come up, I would be the first Yosuke would call, given that Yu-kun wasn't currently with us. I didn't know if it was because my name always just came up right on top of his frequently-called list or because he was just used to phoning me, but that's just how it was. And that's why I also wasn't especially surprised by the voice that greeted me back on the other end of the line when I took the call.

…

The call didn't last a minute. I didn't have to say much, an occasional sound, one word answers and a 'See ya then' at the end. Then I turned back to the others. The worry on my face probably did not help the confusion on their faces at all and I felt that what I was about to say was not gonna make it any better either.

I took a breath before I spoke.

"…The party's called off. We'll have to clean up the place."

"Heh!?"

I was surrounded by baffled stares and gaping mouths. Everyone blinked repeatedly, as if trying to make sure that I was actually standing there and had actually just said this. They were that taken aback.

"Called off?" Yukiko was the one to ask the obvious question. "But what's the reason?"

"Geez, don't tell me those two got themselves into trouble again?" Rise groaned loudly, but I was already shaking my head at her. Sure, she had a good reason to think that, but that wasn't what it sounded like on the phone to me.

"No, it's not that… At least I don't think it is," I was a little unsure how to explain what Yosuke had told me without making everyone freak out. In the end, I decided to just go for it. "It's Teddie… He collapsed in front of the Okina City Hall."

"He… What now?" Kanji's eyes were even wider.

"So, he fell down the stairs?" Was Yukiko's guess, but I shook my head at that too.

"If it were just that, I doubt Yosuke would have told me the way he did. He sounded real serious about it, said something about some stuff that happened that he didn't wanna just talk about on the phone and told me to tell you all to wait on him up here and that he's coming over to tell us about everything in the 'usual spot'…"

"That doesn't sound good…" There was genuine concern, but also annoyance in Rise's voice. "Hey, if he wanted to meet us up here… Do you think it's 'that kind of thing' again?"

A groan from Kanji. "At that point, I wouldn't even be surprised. Heck knows, we did get roped into this stuff over and over again when it had looked like it was already over plenty in the past."

"But the past year had actually been pretty peaceful," Yukiko lowered her head a little. "I can't imagine what could have come up again. Plus, did you guys notice anything wrong with the TV lately? Or felt anything weird?"

Rise was the first to shake her head, "I mean, I've been working a lot, but… I still go to school here, so I try to keep an eye on things. And I don't think I've been feeling anything weird. My Persona has been acting normal, too… Also, aren't the two of them all the way over in Okina? I've never heard of anything to do with the Midnight Channel happening over there."

"H-Hey, now… Maybe we're just jumping to conclusions? I mean, Yosuke didn't say anything about the Midnight Channel or Shadows. It's just… The way he _did_ say it that got me worried."

I had to admit, it was mostly I who was jumping to conclusions here. But I just couldn't help that strange gut feeling the way Yosuke had spoken had given me. Call it… Police Intuition? Even if I wasn't on the academy yet, all that studying ought to have done something by now! On the other hand, I had plenty of other reasons to not feel good about this all too.

"Maybe… But I'm worried about Teddie," Rise voiced my thoughts, pretty much. "He hasn't ever just collapsed like that before, has he?"

Yukiko shook her head, "As far as I remember, he hasn't ever even been sick before at all. Didn't he say he slept by Yu-kun's side the whole time when he caught that heavy cold in January last year? I don't think he even worse a mouth mask during that, but he was perky as ever."

"Given Teddie's unusual physiology and circumstances, I'm not too surprised bacteria and other germs that generally target humans don't affect him in any way," Naoto-kun finally gave her opinion, rationalizing it all, as always. "That said, it is odd that he would suddenly just collapse… I hope Yosuke-senpai will have more to say on the matter once he comes here. Even so, I still worry regarding what he will have to say… He wouldn't have called us like this if it hadn't be urgent. It seems like he wanted to make sure none of us leave before he arrives to tell us what happened."

There was a short silence as we looked at each other. It didn't need a genius to tell that we were all pretty anxious. Thinking in worst case scenarios wasn't a good habit, but… With our luck, it was easy to become a worrywart about these things.

The case that had first brought us all together had started two years ago now. Since then, quite a lot had happened. We got involved in a lot of battles - personal and less personal - and had seen plenty of things we all had never thought would be possible. We met people from strange places, secret agents, gods… And even ourselves, in a way. We had to go back into the TV several times after we first thought we had solved the case, we had stop the end of the world twice and learned some pretty frightening things.

But since the last bigger incident, almost a year had passed now. We had finally managed to all properly settle back into our normal lives… More or less. We still had to keep working on ourselves after all. At leas that's what I believed. But one way or another, our lives had become normal again. Or at least as normal as your life can be when you have Super Powers and some of your friends are part of a super secret special police force.

Sure, Mitsuru-san wanted us to live our lives for ourselves and then decide where we want to go with them when we're ready to… But we had always known that something new could happen and call us back into action.

"Sitting here and worrying about what it could be isn't gonna do us any good!" I finally stood up from the seat. "Let's, umm… Go and do something!"

"Do something? Like what?" Rise blinked at me.

"Getting rid of the these decorations would be a good start," Yukiko looked around the corner of the food court.

Right. We had Yosuke rent out part of the food court for us to throw a big party, with streamers and and balloons and all that good party stuff. There was gonna be plenty of food too. We were all gonna pay. I mean it, all of us! No letting Yosuke foot the bill. That was important, because the party wasn't just for Teddie, it was for him too.

Firstly, we were gonna celebrate that Yosuke's parents had finally decided to adopt Teddie, which meant he was now officially a citizen of Inaba and would stay here for good. At least we hoped he would. Sure, the little guy could be a real pain at times… Well, almost all the time… But in the end, it was hard to imagine Inaba without him around nowadays. He was our friend and we loved him, even if he could be a major plague and a perv if nobody kept him under control. Then again, more often than never, Yosuke's 'keeping him under control' actually made things worse instead of better…

Oh, yeah, talking of Yosuke, the other reason we were throwing the party was for him. After all, he was the one member among us who'd decided to go to a college in the city. Soon he'd get the results of the entrance exam he took and, if all went smoothly, he would move out of Inaba by April, only coming back in the breaks. So the party was supposed to be a bit of an early farewell for him. Or at least a 'congrats on finally deciding what you wanna do' kind of thing.

It was a bit of a weird thought that he wouldn't be around anymore, but I guess same went for me too. I was going to be gone pretty soon as well, if everything went well with police academy…

We were generally becoming a little scattered. Naoto-kun was always on the move because of her job, and same generally went for Rise-chan. Yu-kun was only here during the breaks and was gonna enter college soon as well. Counting Yosuke and me, only Teddie, Yukiko and Kanji were going to stay in Inaba permanently. Here goes hoping they wouldn't get lonely on us. I wasn't as worried about Yukiko, especially because she was going to be doing innkeeper training away from Inaba at some point as well, but Kanji had a habit of shutting himself in his room to do his own thing when nobody to hang out with was around and Teddie had always been sticking to us, mostly Yosuke, from dawn till dusk. Come to think, I wasn't even sure if he had already realized that soon Yosuke wasn't going to be there anymore in the same way that Yu-kun wasn't there most of the time… Was everybody really gonna be alright? I was probably not the only one worried about stuff like that. Rise-chan had been suspiciously nice to everybody lately and Naoto-kun had been taking extra much time out of her schedule to hang out with us. In the end, none of us wanted to risk the others feeling neglected, I guess.

We were a bit reluctant when we cleaned up the place. At least I was. I was still frustrated that we would have to cancel the party, and anyway, it really felt like something Yosuke should be doing, but since he already had to deal with Teddie suddenly passing out in the middle of the city today, I figured he deserved to be cut a little slack. Plus, it was a shame for all the snacks we had prepared. Yukiko's lunchboxes, too. She looked more than just a little bitter when she put them away. But then I told her we could still eat them while discussing everything later, so she got them back out.

By the time Yosuke came jogging towards our usual table from the direction of the stairs, we were as good as done with cleaning up.

"Whoa, you guys actually did take care of the decorations?" There was a clear look of surprise on his face. "Didn't expect that… Alright, I guess we can get right to the point then! Sorry for the wait, by the way."

"W-What do you mean 'didn't expect that'!?" I threw right back at Yosuke with some indignation when he sat down in the free space next to me. Did he really have that little trust into us? After all, it's not like we had told him we weren't going to clean, was it? If the thought had crossed my mind or not wasn't the question. "How about a 'thank you', maybe? Unlike you, we don't work here, y'know! I didn't come the way here just to be signed up for charity cleaning duty."

"Hey, can you cut it out maybe?" Yosuke grumbled at me. "Seriously, I'm sorry things turned out that way, but I'm really not in the mood to fight over this now! There's way more important issues to talk about."

The serious look in his eyes seemed pretty genuine. None of us felt in the position to just cut in-between whatever Yosuke had to say again, so we just sat and waited as he continued to speak.

"So, where to start. Well, Teddie and I… We were attacked earlier today. By Shadows."

"Shadows?" Yukiko called out, but she managed to keep her voice down just enough to not attract the attention of other costumers.

"B-But, wait," Rise tried to make sure of something. "You guys were in Okina, right? So it didn't happen in the TV World?"

"I'm not sure what exactly happened myself, really," Yosuke sighed deeply. "One moment, he was getting on my nerves on the staircase, the next moment the place is just sort of… dead, and there's Shadows everywhere!"

"Dead…? You don't mean like… Last year, in May…?" I make a face at the thought of it alone, shuddering a little, and it's clear that Yosuke understands what I mean. He looks at me with his arms crossed.

"That's what we were thinking too, but… Something was different. I can't really explain it, but… It seemed like it wasn't all that big a thing. Like it was really just that place where Ted and I were that was being weird. There weren't any reinforcement coming from anywhere once we took down those Shadows. And even stranger, once we defeated them, everything just went back to normal. Almost like it had never happened at all."

"And then, Teddie just collapsed?" Yukiko asked and Yosuke nodded.

"Yeah. Pretty much out of nowhere, too. I mean, we did battle, but… I don't think any of the Shadows managed to even get a proper hit in on him. It was really just a bunch of small fry, nothing special. That shouldn't have worn him out like that. Sure, Teddie can be a wuss when he wants to be, but not even he's overdramatic enough to make himself lose consciousness for no reason whatsoever after a won battle."

The concern in Yosuke's voice was definitely real, we could tell that much. Naoto-kun was the one who spoke up next.

"Say, Senpai, where is Teddie right now?"

"At home. When Mom and Dad came to pick us up, he was still out cold, so they rushed him to the hospital. But since the doctor couldn't find any problems with him, they sent us home and just told my… Our parents to let him get some rest and watch him for a bit."

"No surprise here. I mean, they couldn't even take X-Rays of him a year back," Kanji noted.

I found myself biting my lip, "It's a bit of a scary thought, actually. He could have some kind of weird illness normal people don't get, and nobody would ever be able to tell…"

"Did you contact Mitsuru-san about this?" Naoto-kun asked Yosuke. He shook his head.

"Not yet. I mean, I thought about it, but… I wanted to discuss it with you guys first. I mean, we have to let them know about the Shadow in Okina, but on the other hand… Teddie kind of feels like our responsibility, doesn't he?"

Rise looked anxious, "Yeah, but… I dunno. I really have no idea what to make of any of this. Shadows in Okina, but just for a few minutes? Teddie, passing out for no reason? If we want to investigate into this, I don't really know where to start…"

"If only Yu-kun were here," I saw Yukiko's eyes meeting the ground. "He would know what to do."

"We cannot always rely on Senpai to guide us through and out of any and every crisis, regardless of how minor or great it may be," Naoto remarked. "For now, we should focus on getting into contact with the Shadow Operatives and compare the situation with past cases they have dealt with. Perhaps they have an idea what might have caused Teddie to lose consciousness as well."

"Yeah, I guess that's really our best bet after all…" Yosuke still seemed troubled. "Oh, but maybe we could at least try to check on the TV World ourselves. I mean, if those Shadows leaked out from anywhere, that's the most likely source. Rise, you OK with going in and doing a scan?"

"Sure, I'll try!"

We sat a while longer and spoke, while eating Yukiko's lunchboxes. We talked about things like what could have caused those Shadows to appear and what a shame it is we had to cancel the party. We also spoke about how much Teddie was going to be annoyed we ate all of Yukiko's lunchboxes without him in the end. It may be hard to believe, but Yukiko had actually gotten pretty good at making these! Sure, she tended to always make the same couple of dishes, but they did taste pretty decent by now. She had really improved a lot.

At the end of our meeting, there was a large sauce stain on my shirt. Maybe it had been a good thing I hadn't worn that dress in the end? If I had put that stain on that dress, I would have been pretty mad with myself. At least I told myself that. It was easier to imagine that I was simply not meant to wear that dress today. It felt good to have some sort of reason.

Still… None of them had anything to say about my pinned up hair. Not Yukiko, not Rise-chan or Naoto-kun or Kanji. Not even Yosuke.

What a weird thing to be worried about when we've got a friend who may be sick in bed at home, huh? I wasn't even sure why I was thinking about it so much. This wasn't like me. I wasn't that vain at all. Right?

…I wonder if Yu-kun would have said something?

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2 - Headaches<strong>

Fine lines traced along the paper, forming symbols, words, sentences. The ink took a few seconds to dry, so she had to make sure her long hair brushing against the paper wouldn't cross paths with her writing. This would certainly have been an easier task if she could have written these documents in a digital form, but this was a risk she didn't want to take. All of these reports were top secret and only meant for a hand full of people to read. Storing them in a computer system, which could be hacked or even altered was out of question, especially when there had been an incident of hacked A.S.S.W. Units just less than a year ago.

A. S.S.W… The Anti Shadow Suppression Weapons…

Mitsuru Kirijo stopped writing to consider giving the girls a call, but finally decided against it. They would contact her when they had something relevant to tell. She had full faith into the sisters' abilities and reliability. Not that that eased her anxiety in the least. A short sigh escaped Mitsuru's mouth and she began to message her temple with circular motions of her thumb and pointing finger. What a pain this had turned out to be…

"Mitsuru."

The sound of a voice caused her to raise her head and turn.

"Yes, Akihiko? Is there something you need?"

Mitsuru's eyes followed the young, black-suited man as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Actually, no. I came because I needed to tell you something from someone else…" He paused as soon as he caught a glimpse of Mitsuru's pale face and the heavy, dark rings under her eyes. "Hey, you don't look to good. Shouldn't you be taking some rest?"

Though Mitsuru sighed upon hearing her friend's assessment, she shook her head, before going back to supporting it with her hand.

"I will be alright. It has merely been a stressful week, that is all." Returning to her previous position and looking over what she had written, she still kept talking to Akihiko. "Ever since Takeba's incident last week, we have been receiving more and more reports of similar occurrence from our agents all across the country. And yet, we still can't determine the cause. This is getting to be an absolute nightmare…"

"Then you definitely aren't going to like what I'm about to tell you," Akihiko demonstratively sat down on a chair close by to Mitsuru's, as if to tell her to not bother getting out of her own. "We got a call from Shirogane a few minutes ago. It seems it's not just our agents who are being targeted now."

Mitsuru's eyes widened with dread, "Are you going to tell me that there was an incident in Inaba as well?"

"Okina City, actually," Akihiko replied. "Hanamura and that kid in the bear suit… It was 'Teddie' wasn't it? … Anyway, from what Shirogane told us, they were attacked during a trip to the City Hall."

"The City Hall… Ah, yes, I remember. The boy was supposed to receive legal citizenship. I personally saw that he would pass through the legal inspections… And they became victims of a Shadow attack there?"

Akihiko nodded, "Yeah, and wouldn't you know it, what they described sounds exactly like what we heard from Yukari and Aigis."

"…Wonderful. Just wonderful."

Even more than before, Mitsuru's entire being seemed heavy to the point that is was surprising she was still sitting upright. It was obvious that she was quite done with about everything for the day. Her massaging of her temples became more intensive.

"So this is not only an internal issue of our organization. Persona Users are being targeted indiscriminately. In the worst case, this might mean that anyone with the Potential could become a target. Even unregistered, unexperienced Persona Users who have little to no control over their abilities… We have to get this situation under control as soon as possible."

Akihiko shuffled his chair closer to Mitsuru's.

"You still think that these are coordinated assaults?"

Mitsuru continued writing.

"I can't say for sure… However, I am worried by how suddenly these incidents began and with what speed they have been spreading and rising in frequency. While there is no proof that this is indeed a planned series of assaults, I am having trouble believing that this is could be a completely natural phenomenon."

"Yeah, you do have a point. I mean, when have Shadows ever appeared in the real world like this? Ever since the Dark Hour has been erased, I mean."

Not even for a second did Mitsuru interrupt her writing, even though she seemed to have trouble concentrating on it simultaneous to her conversation with Akihiko, "There was the high level incident in Inaba last year… However, that also turned out to be a very much planned occurrence. And we shouldn't forget that the Dark Hour, too, originated from a man-made tragedy."

"Do you have any idea who might be pulling the strings then? I mean, if there is a culprit, they obviously would have to have some kind of goal with all of this… Right?"

Mitsuru remained silent. Though she knew that Akihiko was definitely right about what he had said, she couldn't find an answer to his question. Not yet at least. There was still too little they knew. No clear pattern.

Well, actually, no. There was a pattern. The incident always happened in populated areas, always in the vicinity of at least one Persona User. Time in the area would suddenly seem to stop and the environment would exhibit an unusual aura. Shadows would appear and attack the Persona Users. Once the area had been purged of Shadows, the normal flow of time would resume. No regular people would be aware of what had happened. The radius of said area was never more than a few hundred meters at a time. Persona Users had also reported being unable to leave said area before returning it to its natural state. As all reported incidents resembled each other in these points, it was clear they weren't isolated occurrences. Likewise, the reports came in with a certain regularity. There had yet to be a report of two such incidents occurring simultaneously in different locations.

And yet, all this did not help in Mitsuru's eyes. None of this held any information or clues regarding the source the Shadows may have originated from. Not even large area scans had brought results so far. The source itself was most likely not in the real world. Naturally. Shadows could not exist in this world under usual circumstances.

Of course, there were exceptions… But those merely proved the rule, correct?

"Oh, yeah. I just remembered."

Akihiko's voice took Mitsuru out of her thoughts. She looked at him, waiting for him to continue whatever he was about to say.

"There was something Shirogane said that didn't sound quite like what we heard from our own people."

"You mean an aspect that didn't fit with the incidents we recorded so far?"

"Well, it's less that it didn't fit. It's more that it's just… Something new?" Scratching the back of his neck, Akihiko closed his eyes and explained. "She said that one of the two kids… that Teddie collapsed right after the attack for no apparent reason."

"He collapsed?" Mitsuru became thoughtful. "Did Shirogane explain what she meant by 'no apparent reason'?"

"It sounded like she was going off what Hanamura told them, but apparently they only battled small fry and weren't especially challenged by that, but the kid still just suddenly passed out right the moment after the seal on the area was dispelled. It looks like he stayed like that for a while too… Well, I don't like playing Chinese Whispers like this, so it'd probably be for the better to try to get a statement from Hanamura himself later."

"Yes, that would be for the best…"

Mitsuru put her thumb to her lip. She didn't know at which point she stopped writing her document. Right now, she didn't care. A Persona User exposed to the phenomenon had collapsed… That was unheard of so far. Was this unique, or a new attribute of this strange situation? She knew that it would be inevitable to contact the Persona Users of Yaso-Inaba as soon as possible if she wanted answers. She could not allow the situation to get out of hand anymore than it already did.

Once Akihiko had recounted to Mitsuru everything he had heard during Naoto's phonecall, the two of them made plans to get into contact with the Persona Users of Inaba as soon as schedule allowed. Just when he was about to excuse himself and leave Mitsuru's office, she raised her voice again.

"Just one last question, Akihiko."

"Hm?"

Akihiko stopped in his tracks and faced Mitsuru.

"When you spoke to Shirogane, did she mention anything regarding the other occurrence involving one of their own that we have been informed of?" she asked him. "I am talking of the recounts we received from Mariko Kusumi."

"Hm… No. Now that you say it, she didn't mention her," Akihiko shook his head. "I'm not surprised, though. The fact that Kusumi was in the hospital isn't widely known. Remember when we went to talk to her? She was already demanding to waltz out again, even though she had only just been brought there, no paperwork or nothing. The stink she raised to the poor doctors was something to behold."

A smirk appeared on Mitsuru's face, "She actually reminded me of someone else in that respect."

"W-What..!" He didn't need to hear his name to know who Mitsuru was talking about. Her face told the whole story. Akihiko blushed, clearly taking offence. Tch, what, were they still in high school now? In any case, that was all besides the point, even if Mitsuru's soft laughing made him feel slightly bitter.

"Hmpf… Well, I don't know what Kusumi has been up to ever since we last spoke to her… But she doesn't seem like the type who would immediately run to cry to her friends over every single thing that happens to her. I bet she simply hasn't told any of them about it yet."

"Hm, I see…"

There were many things going through Mitsuru's mind. About the incidents, about the children in Inaba, the mysterious collapse of two of their own… Mitsuru could only wonder if Yu Narukami, the usual leader of the Persona Users of Inaba was, in fact, aware of any of of these occurrences. Though, should the pattern prove true, it was more than likely that he would find himself involved regardless of this, sooner or later. All Persona Users were at risk, after all.

There was a slight feeling of guilt in the back of Mitsuru's mind that she knew was unwarranted, yet couldn't help experiencing. As a Shadow Operative, it was her duty to ensure these children would be able to live their lives and face their futures undisturbed by Shadow activity of any kind. And yet, she had been unable to prevent this phenomenon from reaching Inaba. If only they knew more about Shadows in general, issues like these might be predictable or even preventable, she thought silently to herself. But all this knowledge was long gone, destroyed with the lives of those who had been responsible for bringing Shadows into the lives of so many current members of the Shadow Operatives and other Persona Users to begin with.

It was something she thought about a lot.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

_I have actually already written out quite a lot of this fic, so posting the first two two chapters at once, seems reasonable. This won't be a regular thing, however. Anyway, let's get to business._

_Let's get some information right out the way: This fic is set several months after the Summer Vacation in the Epilogue of Persona 4 The Golden, and the majority of all P3, P4 and even some P2EP characters are going to appear. It is going to follow several intertwined storylines, with the thread that connects the other storylines being heavily Teddie-centric. Please think of this as a story about growing up primarily, especially in the case of Teddie. It isn't a shipping fic, though the format is different I am trying to keep the feeling close to canon (without romance routes), so there might be some teasing where I think appropriate. _

_Anyone who wonders why I am writing a new fic, rather than working on my unfinished ones, please look at my updated profile. I swear, it's not bad news._


	4. Chapter 3: The Real Heroine

**Chapter 3 - Yosuke:Standby**

My fingers were a little cold when I sat down in my chair in front of my desk and took off my headphones. Given the weather we had been having, I doubted I could blame that only on me having been outside for so long today. I guess I just hadn't realized how wound up this whole mess had gotten me. It wasn't just my hands being cold, my heart was pounding like crazy, too. Thank God I had already passed the entrance exams for Meiji U, because if there was one thing I knew, it was that there was no way I could have taken several hours of cram school courses tonight after all that had happened. Right now, I was just glad to be back in my warm, comfortable room...

… My room...

As soon as I had sat down, I took a look around me. The posters on the walls, the holsters and shelves full of CDs, the drawers stuffed with small books and other things - and the, ahem, goods hidden under said stuff - the window, my computer, my sofa and my gaming console... The TV...

It was hard to believe that soon, none of this would be a daily sight for me anymore. Right. My daily life was going to change. This wasn't going to be my room anymore. I was going back. Back to the city. Though... Now that I thought of it that way, it just sounded wrong. No, I wasn't going 'back'. I was just leaving. This was home. And I was going somewhere else. Sure, maybe one day I would be feeling differently about this again, just like right now, I felt differently about leaving Inaba than I would have had two years ago. But right now, this was my reality. Inaba was my real home. And I had only one month left before I would leave it. Not more. Just one month and all my most important stuff would be packed into a suitcase and off I would go. Was that the way Yu had felt when he left last year, too? He would be able to tell me himself soon enough. It was already arranged that we would be sharing a room at the dorms. Shared rooms were a whole lot less expensive than single rooms, so making this decision had seemed like a no-brainer, especially seeing how we were going to the same college. I had already added the dorm's address to my contacts, right into the same slot as Yu's cellphone number. Remembering this, I took out my phone to ascertain the fact once more... Ah yes, there it was. Good. This way I hopefully wasn't going to get lost on the big day. I had already declined Yu's offer to pick me up from the station. I figured he would be busy with moving in himself. Now that I was at it already, I found myself browsing through other numbers he had given me, of people and services around the campus that could become important. I made sure I still had everything right where it should be. Even if Yu and I were going to share a room, I didn't want to end up relying on him for every little thing again, like I used to when he lived in Inaba and we were working on the case. I wanted to be the reliable one myself for once. That was something I had decided on for my own future.

And while we are at the topic of roommates...

I took a glance to the left side of the room. Teddie's side. As always, it was in complete disarray, snacks and magazines piled up into towers so high and uneven that it was mesmerizing and a miracle none of them had collapsed yet. On the makeshift bed inside the closet was Teddie. Usually, he would be lying there, curled up like a ball and tangled into the sheets, but right now he laid there flat, with his legs stretched out and his arms parallel to the sides of his body, fully clothed and on top of the blanket. Of course. He had barely been awake when we got home, too dazed to even speak in whole sentences. It hadn't sounded like just some of his usual whining either. The moment I had brought him to bed, he immediately fell asleep again. What the hell was wrong with him anyway...?

To say I wasn't worried would have been a big fat lie. Sure, with any other person I would just have thought of it as a cold or something and wouldn't have contemplated it too much. But Teddie, catching a cold? It would have to be a cold day in hell for that to happen. Or at least a day with one of these many, many weird reasons his 'nose' would get 'stuffy', when he couldn't properly sense things in the TV World, I guess. But this wasn't like that, was it? The sky was clear and the air relatively dry. No fog or anything along the lines was to be seen. There wouldn't be any of that for a while. Marie-chan had promised us a sunny couple of weeks on television, winking into the camera with such an incredibly lack of subtlety that every last one of us had no doubt that, some way or another, we probably were the reason that Inaba was having this unusually warm February. Maybe she thought it would be a nice farewell present for the ones of us who were leaving. She must have really underestimated how busy we would be until April, making the nice weather more taunting than anything, but, hey, it's the thought that counts.

I kept my eyes on Teddie for a while. The way his chest rose and lowered over and over told me that he at least slept like a normal person. Which was probably good, because for a normal person this would mean a peaceful sleep, right? But was that true for him too? I shuddered a bit when I remembered something Chie had said earlier that day. Right... If something were to be wrong with him, something that we knew nothing about... We wouldn't really be able to do anything, right? ...That was really a scary thought to have. Teddie often gave me worries. But usually they were caused by him being unable to think further ahead than two seconds into the future and the range his paw could grope. Being worried for his health was really a new one. After all, how exactly do you get worried for the health of someone who managed to blow himself up once and came out of it just fine? Maybe that way of thinking was just careless, though... After all, we were friends. No, more, we were family.

It was still a bit odd... to think of Teddie as my 'brother'. But that was the way it was now. Not just because the papers said so, though that definitely helped too. Mostly, it was because it was the way we decided it to be. Not that there would have been much of a choice, of course... As soon as me moving out became a topic, I had to talk about Teddie to my parents. That was really unavoidable. Coming clean to them about how he had nowhere else to go and no family 'left' to take care of him was hard, but the documents that Mitsuru-san had gotten for us at least helped making the situation seem a little less bizarre. As far as that was possible at least. I still got into plenty of trouble for "lying" about Teddie's identity for so long.

My parents had decided on adoption. In the end, they couldn't just let him be. I guess they had come to feel the same way about Teddie that all of us did. Sure, he can be a pain at times... But he belongs here. It wouldn't be the same without him. This house has been his home for one and a half year now, and so has Inaba. We'd been sharing meals and a room and belongings - well, mostly he just took my belongings without asking - and we have worked together and spent our days. I remember that when I told him about my parents' decision last year, I had said something like 'Well, guess I'll just have to get used to having a little brother now', but the truth was that I already had. I just hadn't noticed until it became a topic. That didn't mean I could expect to be called 'Big Bro' anytime soon, of course - Hah, if Teddie had ever given me that much respect, many of my days would have been a whole lot more comfortable - but at least it gave me another kind of bond to someone here that wouldn't just vanish as I go.

Teddie... My little brother, was one of the things and people I would be leaving behind when I left Inaba. This wouldn't be 'my' room or 'our' room anymore, it would be his. Of course I didn't think he realized that yet. And to be honest, I wasn't sure how to tell him. Stuff like education and future planning... Really, more often than never that was all lost on him. I wondered, when would he understand? How... 'old' did we have to consider him? On the papers, he was almost 16 now. As for his real age... Who knew. We sure didn't. And mentally... Mentally, he deserved to be studied, frankly. That bear was a total mystery, through and through.

I was just debating to myself if it was right to think something like that behind a sleeping person's back - even if it was Teddie - when a somewhat thin, but chipper sound reached my ears.

"Yosuke, do you always watch me sleep, or did you only just now discover how sexy a photo-motif I can make?"

My eyes staring into the distance became focused at once and I saw Teddie's head turned to me, his usual wannabe-chivalrous smile painted on his face. He was still on his bed, but had taken what looked like an underwear model's pose.

...Well. At least he was awake.

"Oh... So you've been up, huh? Well, that's good to know... Anyway, what do you mean by photo-motif? Hell no! Can you please cut out that crap?"

"Huh? So you weren't going to snap a pic? Tsk, really, Yosuke, I think somebody is in de-ni-al here~."

"Snap a pic? What are you-"

I cut short my own sentence when I realized that my cellphone was still in my hand, the camera facing right into Teddie's direction. At once I slammed it into the table behind me and tried to stop my face from turning crimson. Oh, I knew exactly how Teddie was going to relay this little 'story' to everyone else, and I also knew exactly in how much trouble he was gonna be in once he did. I would make sure of that.

"...Please, move," I said in a rather uncomfortable voice once my phone had been removed from my hand and I saw that Teddie was still posing as if we were having a photoshoot for a dirty magazine. He briefly gave me an offended scowl, before he slid his legs to the side and let them dangle off the bed. Sitting up on the mattress, he stretched a little. There were wrinkles on his clothes, but, to my surprise, Teddie did not get to brushing them out right away. Was he still a little dazed after all? He seemed fine enough, but still, given how vain the bear usually was...

"Hmm, that was a night... So, when's breakfast?"

That was the first thing Teddie said as soon as he had sat up, causing me to lean forward, closer to him.

"Breakfast? Dude, you didn't sleep _that_ long. It's only evening!"

"Hm? What do you mean? Isn't getting out of bed always breakfast time?" Teddie's eyes widened a bit. The surprise seemed genuine. Did he really think it was morning? "Not that long? But... How long did I sleep then..?"

He started looking around our room in a disoriented fashion. Like the place had anything to do with the time! Geez, Teddie, you know where you are! Then again, given what had happened, I couldn't really blame him for being a little out of it. On the other hand, he had been doing dumb poses on his bed just a few second ago, so he was probably fine enough to use his brain... Or whatever his equivalent of one might have been.

"Oh, right, I remembear. Yosuke and I were in front of that big building in the city. And... And then there were Shadows! Riiight...! And then... And then... Hm..."

Teddie looked at me in a puzzled fashion.

"What... Happened then?"

"You passed out," I brought it right to the point.

"Hm? Passed out?"

He really didn't remember, huh? I could only sigh.

"After we defeated the Shadows. You lost your balance and had a look on your face like a zombie. Then you leaned on my shoulder, slipped off, and after that you were just out like a light."

Teddie took a short while to process what I was telling him. Then, with his eyes closed and his head tilting to the side and back a few times, finally he seemed to understand.

"Hmm... So I fell unconscious. I see... Hm, indeed... I beary much see it now..."

"...What do you see?" I asked him, following his motions.

Teddie opened his eyes, "I dunno."

"Way to be pointlessly dramatic." Couldn't this bear be serious about anything for just once in his life?

"But I *do* remembear getting pretty sleepy all of a sudden! Hm, yeah... Everything was just spinning around and I was thinking, 'Oh, poor, adorable me, I am going to die now, all alone here with Yosuke! Why couldn't it have been the hottie valkyrie of my dying dreams instead!' "

Apparently he couldn't. I rubbed my face with the palm of my hand and groaned.

"Well, at least you seem to be fine now. That's good. But seriously, you scared us there. Try to be a bit careful for a while now. If you're not feeling well or anything like it, you'd better tell Mom and Dad right away, got it?"

"Yessir!"

At least I had his agreement here. Of course, I didn't know how much it would be worth. Again, Teddie rarely ever thought ahead for anything he did. Chances were he would be fooling around and getting caught up in shenanigans within seconds the next time I turned my back on him. But for now I guessed that things would be OK this way. No matter how upbeat and chipper he seemed, I could hear it in his voice that he was still drained. He probably wasn't going to be going anywhere for tonight at least. And that was a good thing, because it was already past 8pm. Mom would have probably thrown a fit if I had allowed Teddie out that late, especially after what had happened earlier today. The doctors were probably right, even if they didn't know much more about Teddie than we did. For now all we could do was let him rest and watch him for a while.

"Hey... Yosuke?"

I had only just turned to turn on my PC and mind my own business, when I heard Teddie talk to me again. When I faced him once more I, strangely enough, found that his expression had changed. He looked a tiny bit uncertain of something. It was enough to make me willing to listen to whatever he had to say.

"Yeah?" I asked, leaning over the back of my chair. "What's up?"

There was a bit of hesitance in Teddie's eyes. Either he wasn't sure what to say, or he wasn't sure of how to say it. It could easily be the later, given that he tended to go cagey when he didn't have any way to make what he was going to say funny. Well, at least his idea of 'funny'.

"...Do you... know who that voice was?" he finally asked.

"Hm? What voice?" I replied.

My non-answer clearly didn't make Teddie feel any bit less nervous. He became insistent.

"That voice! There was a voice from somewhere when I got dizzy! I know that I thought that it was really familiar, too, but I can't remember who it was now, so..."

He stopped. For the first time since he had woken up, I could tell that Teddie's eyes were focused straight on mine.

"...Yosuke? You... Heard it too, didn't you?"

The way Teddie was looking at me sent chills down my spine. In a way, it reminded me a bit of the eyes of an asylum inmate in a movie, pleading people to believe that he wasn't crazy. I didn't know what to say. Why was he so scared? What had he heard? A voice, huh...?

"Teddie... There wasn't anything," I decided to be truthful. "We were the only ones around. You suddenly got dizzy and collapsed. That's all that happened."

"Ah...Ahh...?"

With his eyes wide like that, Teddie was honestly starting to creep me out a little. What was going on? Sure, people hearing voices when they were dizzy or beat wasn't unheard of. I wasn't surprised Teddie had heard a voice. No, what made it unsettling for me was his reaction to me telling him that there was nothing. He seemed downright... Afraid. I couldn't help but wonder why.

"...Hey, Ted. Are you... Sure you're OK?"

Maybe that wasn't the best thing to ask. After all, if he was already afraid of the fact that he was hearing voices, me talking to him like I were thinking that he had lost his marbles probably wasn't going to make him feel better. But my own nervousness was getting the better of me too now. Unblinking, I stared at Teddie, waiting to maybe hear more about what had actually been going on with him when he fell unconscious after our battle or about the voice he claimed to have heard. But instead, I just got his troubled face staring right back at me and a long, drawn out silence, which consisted of one or two minutes of the two of us just uncomfortably looking at each other. Then, Teddie shook his head a little. The stiff expression of fear on his face disappeared. He forced a smile.

"Hmm... Oh, well... It was probably... Nothing then! Nevermind me! Hee Hee..."

His dumb giggling didn't make him anymore convincing of a liar. Whatever Teddie had 'heard', it was clear that it was still troubling him. But for some reason, he didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it anymore now that I had told him that I hadn't heard it. I wished I could look into his mind and figure out what he was thinking. But I knew that even if that were possible, I probably still wouldn't know what was going on in his head. It was much more likely I'd just be utterly confused at the heaps of moon logic I'd find... At times, I really wished Teddie would make more sense. It would have made it much easier to understand him when he had actual problems. But, alas...

"Well, if you say so..."

I brought my finger to the power switch of my computer.

"Hey... Yosuke?"

Again I had thought I should probably just let the matter rest and return to doing my own thing, but again Teddie prompted me to turn around and look at him once more, exactly the same way as before. I was starting to wonder if I was going to have any time for myself tonight at all, but I didn't mind as much as I would have had I been in any less of a generous mood. It had been a weird day for both of us, right?

"Yeah?" I only turned my head this time around. Teddie was still sitting in the same spot he had been ever since he had woken up, his legs still dangling from the side of the bed.

"So... School break is in a month, right?" he asked and at once his face brightened a good bit. It seemed like he had been keeping an eye on the calendar. "Sensei will be coming over then, like always, won't he? I was thinking, we should probably be throwing an extra big party then! Bearcause last year's Golden Week turned totally upside down with all the this and that we ended up having to do aaaand, we also have some actual celebratory occasions to commemorate this year! I want the mood to be just perfect when I show Sensei my shiny new beary Important Document, after all!"

"Oh... That, huh?"

It figured that Teddie would want to celebrate his own adoption with everyone. That was precisely why I was not going to tell him about the canceled party at Junes. With our current busy schedules, there was just not much of a chance we'd be able to schedule it to a later date. As for Spring Break... Right, I almost forgot that was even something that was happening. Probably because I was so busy with preparations and planning that I didn't even expect to be having much of a break this year to begin with. But Teddie must not have realized that yet.

"To be honest... I think Yu probably won't be able to make it this year," I rubbed the back of my neck. This was a topic I hadn't wanted to brush tonight, but I couldn't just lie at him either, so I tried to be vague. "There wouldn't be much of a point to it, given how busy we're going to be."

"W-Whaaaaaaat?" The shock on Teddie's face was underlined by his jaw taking a dive as far down as a jaw could possibly go down without it looking painful. "B-But! It's Spring Break!_ Spriiiing Break_! Flowers and Cherry Blossoms! Crying into each other's shirts to ease the pain of the dreaded 'exam results'! Pink Skirts! F-Fun times!"

He sounded almost like he was really crying, though his whining was still far too theatrical to trigger any kind of genuine emotion in me. But he kept going, sniffling and moaning.

"L-Like Sensei would ever miss out on experiencing that with all of us! H-Hmpf! That's a really cruel joke to make, Yosuke! You should be thankful I'm still talking to you!"

"I'm not joking! Did you even listen to what I've said?"

That wasn't fair of me. I knew that he had listened. It was my 'keeping it vague' that really wasn't making it better for either of us. Teddie was managing to put some serious strain on my nerves again, but this time I really couldn't blame him. It was really just me not wanting to acknowledge what I had already known. That I would have to tell Teddie about what was going to happen next month. That my vague hope that he had maybe already figured out on his own wouldn't come true. Apparently, Teddie really hadn't caught wind of it yet. ...Seriously? Had it really gone right over his head? C'mon, Ted, you can't be that dense, I thought to myself one last time. You must have realized something going on at least, right? What with all my planning and studying, and running around like a headless chicken? But that probably was only what I had wanted to believe. It was as I have told you before; Teddie never thought ahead. That was something we always had to do for him. But right now, I felt stuck and the words wouldn't come. I really had no idea how to break it to him. Especially now, that we had only one month left.

"Look, it's just... Argh..." I shook my head, desperately trying to stop stuttering. "It's like... Like what I said, OK? We're all going to be busy. There won't be an 'us' this Spring Break. That's all."

...That's all? Really, me? Just this Spring Break? Could I really leave it at that? Would that be fair of me?

"In fact... There probably won't be an us until at very least Golden Week..." My voice was shaking a little. Right, I had gone too far now. There was no going back now. I hadn't prepared myself at all for it, but now, I had to go through. "And even then... That's only Golden Week. It won't last long either..."

"Hm...?"

Of course, Teddie had realized how much I was struggling to bring out what was on my mind. Gone was the overdramatic expression on his face again, replaced by that eerily worried look that simply didn't suit Teddie at all. In my ill-fated attempts to be careful about what I was saying, I had somehow managed to pass my dread right on to him.

"Busy...? What do you mean, Yosuke? But... Spring Break is holidays! We're always together with Sensei during holidays, right? What do you mean... No 'us'...?"

Teddie's voice was becoming slower and slower as he continued to speak. Clearly, he was beginning to catch on. It looked like there was no getting out of it anymore. I had opened that can of worms and now I had to deal with what was coming out of it. I took a deep breath and got it out.

"Teddie... Yu is going to be busy settling into college, and Chie and I... We're leaving Inaba at the end of next month."

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3 - The Real Heroine<strong>

Light, Camera, Action! Scripts, roles, stage directions. Producers, Directors, Actors. Reality and Fiction. Great emotion and hot action.

It seemed so glamorous to the observing eye, the work of an actor, the idea of taking on a different role and identity and playing out their story, creating something to be enjoyed, looked at and watched with empathy, something that would bring fame and acknowledgment. But as so often in life, the actual work of an actor was nothing like the romantic ideal. That's not to say that it wasn't good work or enjoyable work, yet Yukari couldn't help but find herself contemplating the technicalities that most people probably never knew about.

She also swore to herself that if Junpei called her in the middle of work to ask her what scene they were on now and if he could get spoilers to brag to his baseball boys with just one more time, she was going to text him a Feather Pink Arrow _to his butt_.

"I said NO! Forget it!"

"_Oh, c'mon, Yuka-tan, not even one tiny hint? Just between you and me!"_

"How many times do I have to tell you that I could lose my job for this kind of stuff?"

"_Look, you can make it totally ambiguous! I thought we were pals!"_

"And I thought the sentence 'I will be fired' wouldn't be so hard to understand, but obviously, I've been underestimating you. Congratulations, Stupei!"

" _-Ack! That, again? You wound me, my friend!"_

Yukari walked her way down the studio hallways as she continued to argue with Junpei over the phone. It was a good thing they were on lunch break right now because, frankly, she didn't want anyone on the set to catch wind of this kind of embarrassing conversation. With every word coming out of the speaker, she just wanted to groan. It was always the same with Junpei, he would call under the pretense of it being important and then go on to prove to her anew what an eternal kid he could be. She wouldn't have minded as much had he at least had anything actually important to say, but so far, it did not seem as if that were the case. It made her seriously regret not having canceled the call the moment she saw his name flash on the screen.

" _...Seriously, though, Yuka-tan. There's something we gotta talk about."_

Oh? Was that actual seriousness she heard in Junpei's voice there? Could it be that he was actually getting to the point now? Provided he ever had one to begin with?

" _So, you know how we're both, like, special operatives? I mean, just part time, and all, but..."_

"Yeah?"

Yukari tried to speed up the process. Her lunch break wouldn't last forever and as far as she was concerned, Junpei had yet failed to convince her that this conversation was actually going to be relevant to her life.

" _Well, it's just... There's something... Like, the other day... Don't get me wrong, I was thinking, hey, maybe I should go to Mitsuru-senpai with that first, but it didn't seem right, you know? Ah, I guess you probably don't know. I mean, I didn't even tell you yet, but... What I'm trying to say is..."_

At this point, Yukari really wished she had some gum to chew on her. She was getting rather bored with all this not-making-sense.

"Junpei," she said. "Look, my lunch break only has 60 minutes. If there's really something you need to tell me, I'd like you to speed this up a little and tell me quickly, or-"

Raising her own head a little was enough to make Yukari stop in her tracks entirely. What she had wanted to say, she didn't know anymore. The surprise at what - or rather, who - she was seeing in front of her, just ten meters down the corridor, left a far stronger impression on her mind. And obviously that sentiment of surprise was reciprocated, as Yukari found the four eyes of two other young women on her, equally as wide as her own. She lowered the phone from her ear.

"...Rise-chan? ...Shirogane-kun!"

"Takeba-san," Naoto greeted back, her initial surprise quickly changing into a smile. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Ah, Yukari-chan!" Rise was perky as ever. She ran right up to Yukari. "Are you on break? Wheew, I guess that means we made it on time."

Yukari's reply came with a nod and a smile,

"Yeah! I was actually just on my way to get some lunch... Well, if there's still some left, hopefully. I got... Sidetracked a little."

Speaking of her distractions, the cellphone in her hands was still very busy transmitting the static-loaden voice of a certain baseball coach into Yukari's reach.

" _Hey? Hello? Yuka-tan? What is going on now? Hey, is that Risette? And Nao-tan? C'mon! Don't just let me hang like this!"_

A sigh. Right. Phonecalls didn't cancel themselves. Still, at least now she had the exact kind of excuse to end it that she had needed all along. Lucky her.

"Oh, Junpei, I'm so, so sorry, but that red button is soooo tempting, I just have to press it."

" _Wait, what now? Red button... Hey!"_

It had taken him two seconds to realize what she meant. The exact two seconds she needed to flip the phone in her hand put her finger in place.

"Sorry~! And bye~!"

" _At least tell them 'hi' from m-!"_

Junpei's complaint never finished. The line was already cut, and the speaker silent, as Yukari preferred it to be. She briefly wondered if maybe she wasn't being a little mean to Junpei, but considering her experience with past times he called her while she was on the set, she had probably made the right decision. As much as she considered him a good friend, he really had only a vague concept of 'there being a certain time and place for certain things'. When Yukari turned her attention back to the two girls with her, she found that they seemed a little dumbfounded.

"Huh..." Rise tilted her head a little, not quite sure what to make of what she had just witnessed.

Meanwhile, Naoto was brushing some of her hair over her eyes, as if to hide them, "That was... Certainly a way to end a call, I suppose."

"Oh, that was just Junpei," Yukari rolled her eyes and tugged away her phone. "Nevermind him. What are you girls doing here? I thought they said we weren't shooting any more scenes with your character in them for a while, Rise-chan?"

"Yeah, that's true, the reveal of Golden Dove's identity isn't due for filming yet, but the director called me in for some test shootings. He said he wasn't sure about some things in the script and wanted to see me try performing them live first, before deciding what to keep and what not." As Rise explained, her eyes wandered over to Naoto. She eventually put a hand on her friends' shoulder and grinned. "And Naoto-kun here said she had something to talk about with you, so she tagged along!"

"Hm? With me?" Yukari replied. That was something she hadn't expected to hear.

"Ah, yes. That is correct." It was a little uncomfortable to Naoto to be forced along with Rise's swift pace like this, but she stayed calm and kept smiling with the other two, as she nodded her head and attempted to explained. "For a reason I would rather not disclose out in the open like this, I contacted the Shadow Operatives Headquarters last night. As I did, I was informed of a certain... Incident that happened at these studios last week."

The young Detective's words caused Yukari to stand up straight again and adopt a somewhat more serious expression.

"Oh... That..."

Of course she knew what Naoto was talking about. It was just that she hadn't expected to be asked about it here and now, of all times and places.

"Would it be alright if I asked you a few questions about what happened that day?"

Yukari reacted a little slowly, mostly because she wasn't sure what exactly Naoto's reasons were to try and get involved in this. In the end, however, she nodded.

"Yeah, sure... If my Senpai sent you to me, I'll try to tell you everything you need to know..."

But why she needed to know it... That was a question Yukari was definitely going to ask herself. So much was sure. It wasn't that she didn't trust Naoto, but the fact that she had contacted Mitsuru and the other higher ups in the first place gave Yukari a bad feeling. Was this a larger scale incident than they had thought?

Of course they couldn't discuss such matters during lunch and so Yukari was granted a good half hour during which she could put her mind on other things. She took to just chatting with Rise about trivial things, like work and their opinions on the other actors. Then Rise asked her if she knew if Fuuka had been doing well lately and Yukari replied that, yes, Fuuka seemed fine, if not a bit busy with her studies. Yukari then went on to ask about Chie and Yukiko. The conversation over a couple of chicken sandwiches and a bowl of rice continued that way, with Naoto only occasionally chiming in.

It wasn't until Rise was called away for her test-shootings that Yukari went to find a calm room to occupy with Naoto alone. She still had a little time left before the filming of her own scenes would resume, so now was the right opportunity to speak to Naoto in peace.

"So, there we are..."

The sound of Rise's voice reached them from the next room. Though the rooms used for regular in-door filming were sound-proof, they went with another chamber for the tests, meaning that, though it was muffled, they could still hear some of Rise's lines through the walls. Yukari frowned a little. So much for not spoiling the show to outsiders. Even though Naoto was only allowed here because Rise had brought her along in first place...

"Ha Ha..." Yukari's laughter was awkward. "Sorry about the noise. Hopefully you don't mind being let in on the 'deep, dark secrets' of unaired episodes of a children's show?"

Naoto shook her head calmly, "It is quite alright. I don't mind the spoilers. It was actually rather obvious that the Golden Dove's true identity was Mihato Kanasaki."

Yukari's eyes widened, "Huh? You actually do watch the show?"

"Um... W-Well..."

At this question Naoto's face suddenly turned crimson. Yukari understood that she must have hit something of a weak point there and laughed, "Don't worry, I don't think it's embarrassing or anything. I'm actually pretty flattered! I'm always glad to know that there's some friends who enjoy what we're doing, too."

"I-In any case," regardless of Yukari's motivational words, Naoto seemed in a hurry to change the topic as quickly as possible. "Regarding the incident you were involved in... If I understood Sanada-san correctly, you were assaulted by Shadows?"

"Hm..."

The smile on Yukari's face had disappeared again, replaced by a look of worry. She seated herself in front of Naoto.

"Before I say anything about that... Can I ask you a question first?"

Naoto nodded, "Of course, I see no issue with it."

"Alright, then..."

There was some hesitance in Yukari's actions. It was less that she didn't know what to say, and more that she didn't want to come across as jumping to conclusions. Then again, was there any other word for what she was doing? Maybe not, but she liked to believe that she had a good reason for her suspicions.

"You said you called at our headquarters and they told you about what happened here, right? I was wondering, why did you call the HQ in first place?" She paused. "Could it be... that something happened over in Inaba as well?"

Immediately, Naoto's eyes wandered to the side and Yukari understood. Her bad feeling hadn't just been paranoia after all. She held her breath.

"There was... an incident," Naoto admitted. "Nothing in comparison to last May's case, of course, but Yosuke-senpai and Teddie ended up having to combat a group of Shadows in Okina yesterday."

"Okina?" Yukari repeated surprised. She had been sure if anything had happened, it would have been in Inaba again. Why Okina, all of a sudden? Then again... This film studio wasn't exactly close to any places that had previously been involved with Shadow-related issues either. What did that mean?

"That is why I am here," Naoto continued to tell Yukari. "I wanted to hear from you about what has happened here and compare the recounts to what I was told by Yosuke-senpai. If it turns out that both incidents were caused by the same phenomenon, we may be able to find clues regarding what may have caused it. At least that is what I was thinking."

"Clues, hm?"

With her eyes closed, Yukari thought about the situation a bit. Did Naoto know that Yukari's incident hadn't been the only one reported to the Operatives so far? Yukari knew that Mitsuru had been working on dissecting a huge pile of similar incidents in her office. Genius Detective of not, if Mitsuru, with all that many cases to compare, hadn't come to a conclusion yet, would Naoto really be able to figure out much more with information on only two of them? Regardless, Yukari wanted to help. What made her unsure was the sneaking suspicion that there might not be that much she could do to help to begin with, at least not right now. There were a few things she still wasn't qualified to talk about.

"To be honest, I am still not sure what exactly happened," Yukari began to explain. "We were in the middle of shooting a combat scene, when suddenly all the lights went out. At first I thought it was a blackout, but then I realized that almost all of the other people, except for one of the other actors, had vanished. Before I knew it, we found ourselves under attack by some Shadows. I summoned my Persona to drive them off, but they overpowered me for a bit."

There was a pause. Obviously, Yukari had some issue putting the next part into words. "I, um... Found a way to use my Persona to get the upper hand after all. But the boy with me saw it all. When the lights came back on, nobody realized anything had happened. It looked like the two of us had just fallen down while trying to perform our stunts. I asked him not to tell anyone about what happened, and I don't think he did. I mean, even if he did, who would believe him? The next thing I did was call Mitsuru-senpai... And that's the whole story, really. Nothing happened after that, thank God. But it was still pretty freaky..."

Naoto nodded, committing the things Yukari told her to memory. She took notice of how Yukari had stayed vague about how exactly she had managed to gain the advantage over the Shadows, but Naoto decided to focus on a different part of the testimony first.

"You said another actor remained with you, conscious, even when all other human life in the area had vanished. Can you think of a reason why he didn't disappear along with everyone else?"

"Well," Yukari glanced at the ceiling. "Back when the Dark Hour still existed, people who were conscious during it were usually either Persona Users, people with the potential to become Persona Users, or they had been dragged into it by the voices of Shadows. I asked that boy if he heard any voices, but apparently he didn't."

"And he didn't summon a Persona during the assault either, if I understood you right?" Naoto asked.

Yukari nodded.

"I see," Naoto let the information she had been given process in her mind. "So it's possible he is a person with the potential to become a Persona User naturally, who hasn't developed the ability... Is this how I am to understand you?"

"I know, it must sound confusing," Yukari admitted. "But I know that people like that exist. It was the only safe way to get a Persona back before we averted the Fall. I used to be like that myself. It was only when I met Mitsuru-senpai and the others that I actually learned how to summon mine... There are also some specially trained people in the Kirijo Group who can stay awake during the Dark Hour, but can't summon a Persona. Of course, now that the Dark Hour doesn't exist anymore, there isn't really a way to find people like these that easily."

"But these incidents have similar properties to what you all called the 'Dark Hour', just like the incident that happened last year in May. So naturally, these kinds of individuals would also remain conscious during them..."

"Yeah. That's what Mitsuru-senpai said, too."

With her hands in a pondering position, something Naoto's gaze darkened. A worrying idea must have come to her mind.

"That might mean that people not able to properly summon their Personas might end up involved in these incidents," she mumbled, more to herself than to Yukari. "In this case, there may eventually be casualties. This is troubling news..."

Yukari understood Naoto. The same thought had beein n on her mind for a while already. The idea that somewhere, right now, time might be stopped for somebody who has possibly never seen Shadows before and they would just find themselves thrust into battle without any means of summoning a Persona to defend themselves was like something out of a horror movie. They were Shadow Operatives. It was part of their duty to protect people from this kind of danger. But they were only human. How to fight against something they couldn't predict? In Naoto's eyes, Yukari could see she didn't have the answer either. At least not yet.

"Can I see the boy you mentioned?" Naoto asked. "I would like to take testimony from him as well."

"Ah... Naruya-kun?"

Naruya... Naoto only needed to hear the name to know that Yukari was talking about Naruya Yokomoto, the suit-actor portraying the current iteration of the Blue Featherman Ranger, the Blue Swallow.

"I don't think he would mind, but... I think he's got a tight shooting schedule today. It might be hard to get ahold of him. You could try during the next break, in two hours. If you've got the time to wait that long, that is."

"That is quite alright," Naoto replied. "Incidentally, my schedule for today is rather empty. I will wait. Thank you very much for your cooperation, Takeba-san."

Naoto's thanks came with perfect timing. Just a moment after she had finished talking, the speakers in the room made an announcement mentioning Yukari's name.

"Oh, that's my cue." Picking up her things, Yukari made for the door. "Sorry, I've got to get back to work now. Talk some more later?"

"Yes. I will be waiting."

Naoto watched as the other young woman left the small room, leaving her alone at the table and in relative silence. Of course, from behind the wall to her left, she should still hear Rise's voice, as she continued to say the same lines, again and again, in many different ways, but aside from that, Naoto found herself in solitude. Not that she minded. She had found that, while having companionship and dialog was a wonderful thing, there were many times when she very much preferred to be alone. Moments when she needed to contemplate something were one such situation.

She began to mentally sort through the information she had received, comparing and contrasting it with what she had heard from Yosuke the day before. The common points were undeniable. A sudden stop in time, disappearance of all human presence except for two certain individuals, an assault by a group of Shadows and the area returning to normal as soon as the Shadows were eliminated by a Persona User. As for differences, there were a couple Naoto had noticed, though she was not yet able to discern what exactly they meant. Firstly, there was Yukari's mention of having been overpowered by the Shadows at first. This very much stood in contrast to how Yosuke had described the Shadows he and Teddie had been faced with as 'small fry'. Yukari Takeba was a seasoned Persona User with more than four years of experience. It was very unlikely that Shadows described as 'weak' by Yosuke Hanamura would be able to overpower her, especially considering that Yosuke's and Yukari's elemental affinities were rather similar. It followed that the Shadows Yukari had fought must have been different from what Yosuke had found himself in combat with. Further, in Yukari's case, a person not known to have Persona Abilities ended up involved. Of course, this discrepancy had already been explained away... Then, finally, and also most intriguingly to Naoto, Yukari had not mentioned anything regarding either her or the boy with her, Naruya Yokomoto, losing consciousness upon the world returning back to normal. This was interesting, since it meant that out of four people who had been subjected to the phenomenon, only one had collapsed. And this could be especially relevant, given the fact that the one person who did collapse was Teddie...

Teddie's collapse could not have had anything to do with his Persona Abilities. Two other Persona Users, as well as one person not able to summon a Persona did not collapse under the same conditions. And though mental instabilities could not be ruled out as a cause for being affected by the sudden shift in reality the way he was, Naoto knew that Persona Ability was a sign of a certain level of mental stability in most cases. Naoto had been told that Teddie had been perfectly able to summon and control his Persona just minutes before his losing consciousness. If the collapse had really been related to his mental state alone, Naruya Yokomoto, a person not yet capable of summoning a Persona, would most likely have collapsed as well. Which meant that there had to be another criterium in play. Naoto already felt that she had a suspicion regarding what it could be. After all, given what they knew so far, this was a phenomenon that only seemed to affect Teddie in such a manner. And there was only one trait Teddie definitely did not share with any of the other subjects in question...

_(I will have to talk to Teddie,)_ Naoto decided._ (As soon as possible. Thank goodness it shouldn't be too hard to meet his rather lax schedule.)_

Naoto found herself thinking of her friends. Wondering what they might be doing at the moment, considering where they might be this time of the day. How far might Yosuke and Chie be with their preparations for their continued education by now? Did Yukiko already know when she would be scheduled for her months of inn-keeper training? Kanji should be at his part-time job as an arts and crafts teacher at the daycare right now. Was he doing well? Was Teddie in good spirits today, or still tired? Yosuke had told her that Teddie had woken and appeared to be just fine the evening before, but he also made some hints regarding him acting 'off' in some ways, that Naoto couldn't fully understand.

What was Yu doing? How was he faring in the city? Naoto had no worries for his academic success, but she wondered about other things. Did he have other friends there? People he could speak to about his worries? She understood that it could be hard as a transfer student who only entered the class during the final year. And Yu barely ever spoke about himself. He was too occupied with others, it seemed.

...Her thoughts had drifted off far too much from the actual case at hand. Naoto stretched a little and attempted to refocus her mind. That was when, quite suddenly, chills went down her spine.

And then, the room's lights died out.

At once, Naoto's eyes snapped wide open. Far too familiar was the heavy, oppressive feeling that was beginning to overtake her, she watched anxiously as the color drained from her surroundings, making room to a grey, cold feeling of emptiness.

"Is this...?"

Naoto leapt out of her chair, kicking it aside in the process. She made for the door with wide, quick steps. The silence surrounding her only hardened her suspicion. Not only had the electric humming of the various devices constantly operating in the studio facility stopped entirely, there was no sign of human presences. It stayed the same when she stepped outside, into the corridor. There were no people and no light. It was a feeling just they way Yosuke had described it. 'Dead'.

_Naoto-kun!_

A voice echoed in Naoto's mind, causing her to turn to the door to her left and shout.

"Rise-san, I'm right here!"

Just on cue, the door flew open, revealing a Rise Kujikawa who was downright throwing herself out of the room. An expression of horror was on her face. Naoto dashed to her side.

"Are you alright!?"

"DUCK!" Rise screamed right into Naoto's face. Before she had any time to understand what was going on, a beam of energy came shooting out through the door. Rise's hands shot flat forward into Naoto's chest, pushing her out of the way as Rise leapt. In the blazing light, Naoto caught a glimpse of Rise's Persona, the six-armed Kouzeon, creating a force-field to lessen the impact of the blast. When the radiance dispersed, Naoto could finally see what was behind the door: A group of four Shadows, charging right into their direction with the clear intent to cause damage.

Rise had Kouzeon surge forward and grab the door, smashing it shut.

"...This won't hold them for long," she observed quite accurately. "We have to fight!"

"Did you have an opportunity to analyze them?"

Naoto got back onto her feet and into a defensive stance. She did not have her gun on her, but that did not mean she was not ready to summon her Persona as soon as required. Rise stood right by her side.

"They've got a couple of resistances, but nothing we can't deal with," Her eyes remained focused on the door. "I'm gonna round them up, you go and take them out!"

"Agreed!"

Naoto's nod was all the cue Rise needed. She returned it.

"Alright then! Ready? Three, two, one... GO!"

Kouzeon let go of the door. That was the moment it burst open. All four Shadows leapt outside in grotesque manners, ready to tear into the two friends they had elected as their targets. Rise, however, was prepared. Even if she went into this just as unarmed as Naoto was, this did not mean she was defenseless. With a deep breath in, which she held for a second, she waited for the exact right moment... Then let out a sound. It wasn't a scream. It was much too clear and even for it. It was more like a note. A note, amplified and magnified by a multiple through Kouzeon's capabilities, channeled and aimed directly at the enemy, sparing Naoto the effects of the disruptive soundwave. It froze the Shadows in their tracks, causing them to cringe and curl up and produce noises that could only be interpreted as screams of agony. This was just the chance the girls had been waiting for. Getting a slight cue from Rise, Naoto focused.

"_Yamato-Sumeragi!_" she summoned, and the sword-wielding, crimson-clad figure appeared before them at once.

With a whim of her mind, Naoto enveloped the area in a radiant light. Just as Rise had predicted, the Mahamaon spell devoured the enemies and cleared them out immediately, leaving behind nothing but the remaining echoes of Rise's soundwave. For a few second, the two friends stood side by side, just trying to catch their breathes, more from the shock than from any exhaustion.

"...It's not over yet." There was a serious expression on Rise's face. "I can sense more... From the main studio."

Naoto's face went a little paler when she heard this. She had been dreading this...

" That is where Takeba-san is... We have to go, now !"

"Alright! Follow me!"

Rise and Naoto dashed down the corridors, the few Shadows that threw themselves into their way quickly disposed of by their Personas. The light-based spells they used on their way seemed to be drawing a trails of shining fragments of radiance behind them as they ran, but Naoto could have cared less for the way they looked right now. Getting to their destination as quickly as possible was on the forefront of her mind.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Yukari Takeba to be able to defend herself, quite the contrary. But she also knew how difficult it could be for a single Persona User to focus simultaneously on commanding their Persona and guarding a person. No, it wasn't Yukari's wellbeing that Naoto feared for. Yukari was skilled and she would be alright. But where Yukari was right now, they were currently filming new scenes of Feathermen: Second Victory . Which meant that the other actors currently filming should all be present in that same room. That was why Naoto knew that there was most likely one other person with Yukari at this moment. Someone who would be entirely incapable of defending himself. By the time they arrived at the main studio hall, the noise of battle from within it was already echoing far. It sounded so intense, fear that they may already be too late grew within Naoto. When they stood in the open door, she had to find that fear hadn't been entirely unfounded. What they were faced with was far from a hopeful image to look at.

The amount of Shadows in the studio was startling to the point of seeming overwhelming even to the two of them. While Naoto had been prepared to join battle immediately, now she found herself unsure where to attack first, which left her hesitating. And Rise, too, took a step back when she saw what was happening inside.

"YUKARI-CHAN!"

To say Yukari was in a predicament would have been a huge understatement. She wasn't just surrounded, she was basically buried under Shadows, warping around her body in many shapes, dragging her down as if trying to suffocate her. She could barely move, and yet, her Persona was floating in the air, just a meter above her, making desperate attempts to free its owner by blasting Garu spells into all directions. But in the end, Isis was merely an extension of Yukari herself. If she couldn't see where she was aiming, she couldn't hit. And it wasn't only Yukari who was in peril. On the other side across the room from her, curled up on the floor and clearly in pain, there was a teenager with dark hair, wearing a blue Featherman Uniform, much like Yukari's own. The odd position Naruya Yokomoto's left leg was stretched out in didn't mean anything good either.

Naoto and Rise exchanged glances, before charging into the room in two different directions, Naoto going for Naruya and Rise going for Yukari. It was a large hall and the distance between them and the two victims of the assault quite great. Enough for Shadows to get into Rise's way as she was still on the move. A couple of Dancers lunged at her and took her off-guard.

" Ack- Stay away!" Rise yelled, summoning Kouzeon. " _Don't touch me!_ "

Kouzeon successfully pushed back the Dancers with a good hit, but in the time she had managed to do so, several other Shadows had already closed in on her. Rise gasped. Behind the wall of Shadows that was building before her, Yukari's struggle was beginning to look more and more futile.

Though Naoto fared somewhat better, her luck didn't last for long either. She had to come to the annoying realization that several types of Shadows in this room were, in fact, not vulnerable to her light and darkness spells, forcing her to switch her tactic and resort to Megido-type magic instead. But these skills burnt through her stamina like a 100 meter sprint. She had no idea how long she would be able to last like this. So she put as much efficiency as she could into every single spell she cast and, finally, cleared a 20 meters radius close to the wall of Shadows with a well-aimed Megidolaon. She reached the boy on the floor, and slid to the ground, recalling every bit of knowledge regarding first aid she had in her mind and figuring out what to do.

"Yokomoto-kun!" she called in an attempt to test if he was conscious. "Can you hear me!?"

"Ungh..." The boy definitely didn't seem to be in the best of conditions, but he was clearly conscious when he opened his eyes and looked at Naoto. In fact, there was something resembling a smile on his face. "Ah... Huh?"

He saw Naoto's face and made a sound almost like laughter. Naoto didn't understand. What was there to laugh about?

She didn't get much time to consider it. The very next moment, the first Shadows had already bridged the very temporary safe-zone Naoto's Persona had created. Just one turn of her head and Naoto realized how careless it had been to assume she would be able to treat the boy right here and now. With all the focus she could muster in her mind on such short note she called Yamato Sumeragi to her and made it block the incoming charge of Shadows. But that was all she could do. The moment Naoto attempted to cast another spell to give herself space to breathe, she realized she couldn't focus anymore. She had used up too much of her mental energy.

She froze in place, Naruya's head still on her lap, she realized that from this point on, blocking incoming attacks would be all she could do. She had maneuvered herself into a dead end... Hadn't she?

"Don't worry."

The reassuring voice startled Naoto. She took a moment to realize who had said it. When she looked down, she could see Naruya smiling at her.

"Feather Pink will save us..." he continued. "She's... The real deal, you know..."

"Feather Pink?" Naoto had trouble thinking straight and took a couple of seconds to comprehend. "You mean... Takeba-san...?"

Naruya just kept smiling.

"Feather Pink... Will save us..." he said once again.

There was a lack of understanding in Naoto's eyes. How could he be so sure? Wasn't he aware of Yukari's current situation? Didn't he know that she was struggling to do much of anything for even herself right now? But when Naoto turned her head to look to Rise's and Yukari's side of the room, she came to see something she would have never believed to be possible.

" Ghh... N-Naruya-kun! "

At first, she only saw that Yukari's eyes were covered and her limbs were restrained. That was why she still hadn't taken notice of the fact that Rise and Naoto had joined the fray. Not that it would have changed much. Rise was still desperately trying to fight her way through the never-ending ocean of enemies herself. But she wasn't making progress fast enough.

Only with a daring dash she managed let Kouzeon ram straight through the Shadows with enough force to make even just as much as a dent into the giant, black mass that was keeping the pink-clad Persona User tied to the floor. Rise gasped(,) exasperated. She believed that it had been for nothing, that this tiny hole would just close up again and Yukari would continue to be devoured like before. But that was when something about Yukari's situation did unexpectedly change after all, just from that one, tiny hole, that allowed Yukari to see, to pinpoint where she was, and most importantly, to locate her Persona. Isis' erratic attacks and movements stopped. And at once the Persona dashed straight for its owner.

What happened next was... Energy. A pure burst of energy, washing through the room, warmly, with a blueish glow, Yukari right at the source of the radiance.

"W-What...?" Naoto was stunned. But thankfully, this disturbance in her focus didn't put her into peril. All Shadows in the room were just as stunned as she was. The most stunned, however, was Rise. With Kouzeon straight in front of her, she only stared into the light coming from Yukari, her eyes wide open.

"W-What is this...? I've...never before..."

She couldn't go on. The energy Rise was picking up was high enough to force her to put her hand to her head for a moment, to support it. It was an unusually big reading for a Persona User.

Only Naoto kept watching, her mouth open.

"Feather Pink... Will save us," she heard Naruya's voice say again. "The real Feather Pink will... Protect us all..."

Naoto had nothing to say.

It was when Yukari Takeba started sprouting wings before her eyes that she realized what 'finding a way to get the upper hand' had really meant.


	5. Chapter 4: Messenger of Fire

**Chapter 4 - Yukiko:**** Standby**

I had the timer set to exactly 4 minutes. That was important. If I let the eggs cook any longer, they would turn hard and the yolk wouldn't have the right consistency. I was boiling the Chuukamen in a broth of baking soda. That, in turn, was important for the flavor. The soup base was pork broth. I was going to season it with miso and seafood. Not too much seafood. If I did that, the flavor would become too intense... Wouldn't it?

I stared at the pot before me. The soup inside was bubbling and boiling. For some reason, it felt as if it was taunting me. Was it staring back at me? I stared harder. Seafood. I wanted to put seafood inside. Clams and shrimps and calamary... Right, what could be wrong about that? And why wasn't I supposed to add soy-sauce along with the miso? Both taste good. Maybe some chili powder, too? It wasn't part of the recipe, but... Weren't you supposed to experiment a little when cooking? In my mind, I could see Kanji-kun's judging glare on me. I didn't really know why he had come to my mind, but the face I pictured him making was pretty hilarious. I couldn't help but snort.

It was a good thing nobody else was around right now. If they had seen me starting to giggle so suddenly they would probably get worried. People around the inn tended to be worried when they saw me cooking, though recently everybody was saying that I had improved. It was probably because of how closely I had been sticking to the recipes. The dish I was making right now, too, was actually one I had already quite a lot of practice with. I had eaten and served it to others a few times in the past few months and usually felt satisfied with the results and feedback. But I had never varied it before. In the end it was better to become well versed with the basics of something before trying to go into the variations. At least that was what the chefs had been telling me. And Naoto-kun. And Kanji-kun. Actually, pretty much everyone had been telling me to stick to the recipes first. And so far, it had been working out pretty well. Recently, nobody had been making weird faces at my lunch boxes anymore, and our chefs' faces didn't turn green anymore when I asked them to help me by taste-testing what I was making. That meant I had improved, right? So, if I could handle the basics now, didn't that mean it was time for a little variation?

I stared at the soup. The soup stared back at me. It really was taunting me. Seafood. I had prepared so much seafood. I looked at it. It was taunting me as well. So was the fridge we stored the milk in. And the shelf with the spices. Maybe, I should also put in some fish...? Some unsweetened cocoa powder? What about adding rice, to make it a fully balanced meal?

...

Ten minutes later, I had a bowl full of Ramen in front of me. It was Ramen, right? That was what I had been making. Chuukamen Noodles in a miso-broth, seasoned with a boiled egg and some seafood. But now that I looked at it, it clearly didn't look right. The soup had a strange, dark-brown color and a texture that didn't seem like soup at all, much more like a sort of cream. Chocolate cream? But it didn't smell like chocolate... At least not like the kind of chocolate anyone would like to eat. The strange, grainy pieces in it didn't help. I took a while to realize that they were really the rice. One could barely tell. I hadn't thought soup could do that with rice. My seafood was swimming in it, entangled with the noodles on all sides. Together with the salmon I added, that somehow ended up falling apart just a few minutes after I put it inside, the seafood was filling almost as much of the bowl as the soup itself, which looked a bit sad for some reason. The noodles had taken on a strange color after starting to absorb the broth. And the cut egg had fallen apart when I put it into the soup, the yolk spilling all over the dish. Maybe, in my hurry to add as many ingredients as possible, I stopped boiling the egg sooner than I should have had after all...

The soup was still staring at me, just like it had when it was still in the pot. But for some reason, now its stare seemed less like a taunting one and more... Victorious.

The Ramen had... Defeated me?

I bit my lip as the weirdly acrid smell reached my nose. Maybe it came from the sink? The plumbing might be broken again. ...No, I knew where it was coming from. I just didn't wanna admit it. Even looking at the bowl of Ramen right now and seeing what it had turned out like, there still was a part of me that really, really wanted to believe that maybe, probably, most likely it wasn't half bad. It probably tasted much better than it looked! Or than it smelled. Or than it felt when I put a finger inside what was left of the broth in the pot. I didn't put the finger in my mouth, I cleaned it off with water. Again, I hadn't taste tested... Should I get somebody else to taste test for me?

My eyes were still on the dish, and I would have liked to believe that the longer I glared at the Ramen, the more likely it would become to suddenly change and become something else. Something better. That wasn't going to happen, of course. And I couldn't just get someone else to taste test it for me either, so they could give me the sugar coated version of how it really tasted without me ever having to try for myself. That wasn't going to help. I had to face the truth. I glared at the the chocolate-colored substance, and I imagined it to be black like tar and have eyes and a mask and I imagined the eyes to be looking at me from behind the mask of brown Chuukamen noodles and yolk and all that poor seafood tangled between it. I couldn't blink. I mustn't. I took a deep breath and spoke, looking the enemy straight in the eye.

"You are...Not edible!"

There. I had said it. I admitted it!

It wasn't edible! It looked horrible! Like some kind of concoction, some kind of pudding gone terribly wrong, or maybe like a monster from the sewers that came back to take revenge on the people that had mistreated it when it had still been a harmless laboratory rat they conducted genetic experiments on! Hm... No, maybe not quite that bad. But one has to admit, that sounds pretty fun!

I got a nice chuckle out of my own anger at how my cooking had turned out. However, a few moments later, I had to realize that the wave of relief that I had expected wouldn't wash over me, and the Ramen still didn't look any less horrible than before. My anger and disappointment with myself, especially with the fact that I had managed to ruin a dish that I had been able to cook without any problems whatsoever several times before was just too great. I wanted to be able to do these things on my own, use my own imagination, not just do exactly what others told me or what I had read in a book, but it didn't matter how routinized cooking became for me, the skill to do it my own way just wouldn't come. I knew it would take time, but it was still overwhelmingly disheartening to experience a setback like this when I had already gotten my hopes up so much. Was facing the fact that I had made a mistake not good enough? Maybe there was a bit of a difference between a Shadow and my bad cooking after all...

There was a sigh of defeat on my lips when I sadly looked over my Ramen one more time, before Kasai-san's voice reached me from outside.

"Yuki-chan! There is one of your friends at the door for you!"

One of the others? I hadn't been expecting anyone, but since I had left my phone in my room before I came here in order to try my hand on the Ramen, it was possible that I had missed a mail or two. Hopefully nobody had been worried for me.

"Oh! I am coming!" I called out, but for a few seconds, my eyes just alternated between looking at the spoon in my hands and the door.

I finally put down the spoon. I still didn't know what to do with the Ramen, but that would have to wait until later. That was what I thought at least. I was just in the middle of trying to remove my apron, when I heard steps from outside. Somebody was running through the hallways. At first, I was surprised. Nobody of our staff would ever be running around inside the inn like this. But that was when I heard the call.

"Yuuuuuuuuki-chaaaaaan!"

That wasn't Kasai-san. Unless Kasai-san had somehow learned how to imitate Teddie's voice perfectly. From the sound of it, he was in his bear suit, too. I was still wondering whether it would be better to duck for cover or not, when he already plopped through the door, almost knocking over a tower of dishes next to a sink as he did. I jumped a little. Only staff was allowed in the kitchen! What was he thinking? But then I remembered that it was Teddie. He probably wasn't thinking, was he?

"T-Teddie!" I called at him. "Why are you..."

I couldn't finish. Teddie was already leaping at me, right into my arms. I returned the hug, of course, but... Not tightly enough to let him get to my chest. That much distance had to be. I decently pushed him on distance after a short embrace. But that didn't seem to dampen his enthusiasm one bit.

"Surprised? You should be!" There was a wide, overly self-important grin on the bear's face when he looked at me. He seemed a little... Proud? I didn't understand what for, though. "You know, I was aaaaall by my bearsome at home, with Yosuke at his shift, when I thought to myself... 'Teddie! You don't visit Yuki-chan enough! What giant shame that is! How can you even bear it, ignoring one of the sweetest and sexiest beauties in all of Inaba for so unbearably long!' So, here I am! Ready to make up for all my long-missed visiting-duties! Sorry for the wait~!"

"U-Um... Thank you for... Thinking of me?" I was still a little taken aback. Why this, all of a sudden? But, again. This was Teddie. "Well, you really did surprise me, if nothing else. I definitely didn't expect you! I figured you would still be in bed, because of yesterday..."

Right, I did remember. Yosuke-kun had told us that Teddie had collapsed in front of the Okina City hall after they had been forced to suddenly fight Shadows. But seeing Teddie right now, that seemed so hard to believe. He was as energetic as always. Maybe even a little more energetic than usually? While Teddie had always been quick to jump into things without given them second thoughts, this was the first time he had just come into the inn like this without telling me first. Maybe he had somehow... Evolved? Was this the next step of his 'Teddieness' that he always kept talking about? For some reason that I couldn't explain, I still had a strange feeling about this all, a bad feeling. I found myself petting Teddie's fur a little and looking in the little bear's eyes.

"Are you feeling well?" I asked. "Yosuke-kun told us what happened, you know. I am glad you seem to be doing much better, but are you really feeling well enough to be up and about again already?"

"Ahhhh, Yuki-chan! Has anyone ever told you that your kindness is so warm, it melts me all away like butter~?"

"No, not really." That was a really weird analogy to make, too. Hm, molten Teddie, though. Teddie Fondue...? I glanced to the side at my bowl of Ramen and decided that that probably was a bad idea either way.

Teddie kept talking.

"I am alright, though! It takes more than a little bit of unconsciousness to take this bear down!" He flexed his muscles a little, like a body-builder, which looked a little odd, given he was still wearing his fur. "Enough about me! Let's talk about you! Soooo, what has my Yuki-chan been doing, hm~?"

"I, um..."

"Oh, now what is this my fine, little nose is picking up... Yuki-chan, have you been cooking?"

He didn't give me a chance to say anything. Teddie waddled straight over to where my soup pot and my bowl of Miso-Seafood-Chocolate-Chili-Rice-Ramen was standing and eyed it curiously. Oh no. I didn't want for any of the boys to see this! I had been trying so hard to let them see I could do better, too. I tried to rush to the stove and hide the Ramen, but Teddie was already there, pushing himself up with his paws on the working space, in order to see better. Maybe I still had a chance...!

"T-This is nothing! Absolutely nothing!" I slid the bowl out of Teddie's reach, but accidentally spilled some of the soup. Oh no, the smell...! I had to get him away from this spot, and fast. "See!? There's nothing to see here! So, why don't you and your nose go and..."

"H-Hmm... T-That smell is..."

Was it too late? His little snout was moving up and down. So he had taken up the scent? I knew Teddie's nose wasn't really as fine as that of a real bear in our world, but he still liked to move as if it were. Worried, I stepped back. He was making a face already. Of course, he was. After all, it did smell really bad. I wasn't too worried about Teddie's judgment, but... Would he tell Yosuke-kun about this? If he heard, I wouldn't be hearing the end of 'Mystery Food X' again... But when I was ready to hear everything I had already been thinking to myself about my poor Ramen be told to me all over again, Teddie's actual words surprised me.

"That smells... D-delicious! Hee..."

"H-Huh!? R...Really?" My eyes opened wide up. Had Teddie really said it as I heard him say it? That couldn't be. I looked at my Ramen again. Yes, there really was no change. It was still just as horrible as before.

"Yeeep!" Teddie proudly proclaimed. That weird face he had been making before was gone again, too. He was smiling from one ear to the other again. Maybe his nose didn't work right? I mean, there wasn't any way he could really be thinking that the Ramen I had made was actually any good, was there? "Yuki-chan, I bear say, you must have outdone yourself! Not that I ever expected anything else from my Yuki-chan, of course! Hah hah! I am sure you wouldn't mind a t...taste test?"

"A taste test?" I stared down at Teddie, at my wits' end. Oh my... If he was asking something like that... Could it be? I should have known.

"Teddie... Are you delirious?"

"H-Heh?"

Teddie was looking at me like a person who clearly didn't want to be thought of as delirious. But that didn't have to mean that he was not. Sick people were often in denial about their condition, right? I had to make absolutely sure.

"Now, Teddie. How many fingers am I holding up? What color does my apron have? What is my name? Oh, and the name of the school I go to! What is the name of the store you work for? And can you still tell me how we first met?"

"Y-Yuki-chan! I'm really fine! A-And if I weren't, I sure wouldn't be able to answer so many bold questions at once! I am just one adorable little bear, you know!" Before my eyes, Teddie let his ears drop, as if my suddenly asking him all these questions had offended him somehow. Did I really overdo it? I frowned. I had really only been trying to make sure he was OK.

"I'm sorry, Teddie. I was just worried that maybe you were still sick after all. I mean, you are asking to try my cooking."

"You're saying that like it's a bad thing!"

Something in Teddie's voice sounded strange. It was as if he wasn't making a statement, but asking me if this was a 'bad thing'. Almost as if he was scared that he had said something wrong. Now, that was odd. Sure, Teddie tended to search for approval... But why was he so eager to eat my food all of a sudden? Did he really want to taste test for me...?

My eyes were focused straight on Teddie's big bear eyes. He looked straight back. Well, his gaze seemed firm at least. He wasn't crossing his eyes. Not hallucinating, then. That still didn't necessarily mean he was OK, but at the same time, part of me was actually very happy about his enthusiasm. Even if it was probably a reason to be worried... The idea that someone was actually happy to try what I cooked seemed very nice.

"Hm..." I was in doubt for a moment. I still remembered the time Yosuke-kun was eager to try something Chie and I had cooked... And how it had ended. Would this turn out the same way? Still, Teddie really seemed like he wanted me to go ahead with it. I finally decided to nod. "Well... If you really want to try... Sure! I see no reason why not!"

Actually, I knew a few reasons, but the part of me happy to have found a ready taste-tester was growing stronger by the second. Even if it was horrible, maybe getting some feedback on the taste would give me an idea regarding what to avoid from now on when experimenting.

"Wait a moment, I will just be getting you a pair of chopsticks, and then..."

"Oh, that won't be necessary!"

"...Huh?"

Before I had even made my way to the drawer with the chopsticks, I turned to see that Teddie was already trying to boldly pick up my Ramen Bowl with both his paws. Was he... Going to eat it like that?

"You'll see, Yuki-chan! A gourmet like me can take down- A-Ah, I mean, gobble up your delicacy in one! Wholesome! Bite!"

"All of it!?"

OK, now even the optimistic part of me had to admit that this didn't sound like a good idea at all! I had no idea what Teddie was even trying to do anymore, but I found myself dashing to his side. I didn't make it. By the time I arrived, he had already poured the entire bowl straight into his mouth, really swallowing it all in one go. Was this really the best way to taste test...?

I was still wondering to myself if Teddie really found the Ramen so delicious that he wanted to eat all of it, when a crashing sound woke me from my thoughts. I looked down and there were china pieces on the ground. Teddie had dropped the bowl.

My eyes widened momentarily. That tableware was property of the inn! If I broke it, I would have to pay from my allowance! No, wait, aside from that... I only noticed it now, but... Was Teddie staggering?

"T-Teddie...? Are you alright...?" I found myself asking carefully.

"Ah...hah hah... Yuki...chan..." Teddie's face now made him look dazed and, yes, now he actually was cross-eyed! The motions he made were very uncoordinated, but it seemed like he was trying to turn and look at me. "That was... Beary much..."

I don't know how he wanted to end that sentence. I don't think I'll ever find out. The next thing Teddie did was grope for an invisible object to support himself. He must really not have been seeing where he was touching, because what he got his hand on was a napkin stuck in a pile of dirty dishes. Pulling it out had the kind of effect one would expect it to have in an American cartoon, except it was far less funny. I already said it before, but all these dishes were my responsibility.

"Teddie!"

My voice can't stop physics, and neither could Teddie, at least not in that strange, dizzy state he was in. The tower of dishes toppled over and rammed straight into his round, little body, knocking him backwards. And that wasn't even all that happened, because somehow, Teddie being involved in this meant it had to stay cartoonish from start to finish. So, much to my horror, Teddie stumbled backwards and crashed right into the table with the spices, slamming it into the wall and causing the many small bottles and glasses to be knocked over and down and bury Teddie under them. Most of the ones that did not land on Teddie shattered right on contact with the floor. Not enough with that, the table crashing into the wall caused the pile of clean dishes, right next to the sink by the same wall to shake and topple over too. And in falling down, it tore down a few pots and pans as well. And the pots rolled over the floor and slammed into different tables, knocking down even more things, and yet more things...

At the end of it all, everything around me was in chaos. The kitchen was in disarray, the spices destroyed and many, many bowls and plates ruined, broken chopsticks and dented pots everywhere... And in-midst of it all, there was Teddie. On the ground.

So, that was why Yosuke-kun talked about docking Teddie's pay so much.

I could feel my shock turning into anger. Something inside me was boiling, especially when I looked over the mess and started to mentally count the number of items destroyed. I stopped counting around twenty. I knew this was going to be causing me problems. If I was unlucky, it might even get me banned from the kitchen, or worse! After all, this wasn't just a spoiled dish. I had brought an outsider into the kitchen and let them wreck havoc! ...Except... I really didn't. And that fact alone was enough to turn my dread of whatever was going to happen as soon as any of the other staff saw this into rage. I knew what kind of situation I was going to be in, and I knew that it wasn't going to be fair. I also knew who exactly I had to thank for said unfairness, so by the time the culprit started moving again, I was already looming over him, casting my shadow across his spice-stained fur and glaring down at him with the meanest look I had to offer.

Two big, oval eyes were looking back at me, looking simultaneously confused and frightened, "Y...Yuki-chan...?"

"Out."

I hissed the word with precision and spite. I had yet to figure out whether my anger at Teddie was really justified or not - had he really just been trying to taste test for me? Then why did he just eat the whole bowl at once? Why did he lie about it smelling good? Why did he continue trying to tell me that he liked it, even when he was already falling over? - But regardless of whether or not it was right to be angry at Teddie for what happened, that didn't change the fact that my anger was there, and that he did make a mistake. It's no secret I can't cook that well. As much as I hate the fact, everyone knows it. And trying to lie to me about it... Was that a nice thing, or not? I didn't even understand why he did it.

Teddie's big eyes were still on me. I didn't realize it in my anger at the time, but... Now that I think about it, he seemed really, really scared. Much more scared than is normal for him when he is with us.

"Yuki...chan... I..."

"I said... _OUT_!"

Right now, I just wanted Teddie to leave and I felt justified in this want. For one, he wasn't supposed to be here in first place and explaining him being here would only make things even more complicated when the other staff members came. Secondly, if the staff were to know he caused the damage, it would mean that my mother would probably try to get his family to compensate for it, and I really didn't want the Hanamuras and the Amagis to have a fight or even a vendetta. I liked Yosuke-kun, and Teddie, too. I didn't want there to be trouble between us. And that was also the third reason why I wanted Teddie to leave: To protect him from my own anger. Because right now, I did not know what I would do or say next if I kept seeing him like this.

I know, Teddie had no way of understanding this. All he saw was just my angry glare. And yet, he kept looking back at me, with those big, literal Teddie-bear eyes of his. For a moment, I thought he was going to stand up and just try to fix the damage, somehow, probably in a way that would make it even worse. But it came differently. He shrunk away from me. And then, making an intimidated face, he slowly shuffled along the floor, towards the door... Stood up, and ran away.

For a few seconds, I kept looking at the door Teddie had left through. Then I took a deep breath in and out. Good. This was good. He was out of sight. Now I could focus on... Fixing the mess. ...But how to fix the mess? I looked over the wrecked kitchen and felt frustrated. So many things were broken beyond repair... This was nothing I could just 'fix'. Would I have to find an excuse for how I managed to destroy the entire kitchen just by making Ramen? ...Maybe I should just say that I tried to taste test for myself. By eating a whole bowl at once. Yeah, that might work! I might not be egg-shaped, but I think the results would still have been similar, right? ...Maybe?

I kept playing with these thoughts in my mind while beginning to try and clean up the destruction as far as possible and salvage whatever could be salvaged. Suddenly, I heard the sound of something vibrating on a metal surface behind me. With a glance behind my back, I realized that it was a cellphone on the work space next to the stove. My cellphone. Wait, so I didn't leave it back upstairs after all? Only now I remembered that I had brought it with me for just this once, so it could act as a timer for the eggs.

For a moment, this brought back my anger at Teddie - so he hadn't even tried to call me beforehand? He had just invited himself!? - but I quickly shook it off and got up from the ground to take the call. I felt very surprised when I realized that the name flashing on the screen was 'Yosuke Hanamura'. Yosuke-kun? Why now? Was this really a coincidence...? Not understanding what he could want from me at this time, I slid my finger across the screen and accepted the call.

"Yes? Yosuke-kun, is that you?"

"_Yukiko-san! Oh, man, I'm so glad I reached you!"_ Yosuke-kun's voice sounded strangely panicked. I wondered what was wrong, but he didn't give me time to ask. He kept talking. _"Listen, I need your help! We might have to put a search group together with who we can round up..."_

A search group? That sounded serious. But was it really? I felt obligated to help my friend, but at the same time... My eyes wandered over the chaos of the kitchen once more.

"Um... I'm sorry, Yosuke-kun, but I'm afraid I'm gonna be busy for a while," it hurt having to turn him down, especially given how nervous he sounded, but I had no choice. But I could at least offer an idea. "You probably should call Teddie first. I mean, he's already in the area, so if you needed me to search around the inn specifically, he could do that t-"

"_Wait... You mean you saw Teddie!?"_

"...Huh?"

Yosuke-kun's voice was loud. I had to take the phone away from my ear for a bit. As I did, I put together what his reaction had to mean. So... What, or rather "who" Yosuke-kun was searching for... Was Teddie?

"_Yukiko-san! Where is he!?"_

"I... I'm not sure!" I stuttered back over the phone. "He left a short while ago, and I don't know where he went. ...Yosuke-kun? What happened? Wasn't he supposed to be here?"

"_Heck, no! Of course he wasn't!"_ Now it sounded like it was Yosuke-kun's dread that was slowly turning into anger. _"Mom and Dad were still worried because of what happened the other day, so he was supposed to stay in bed! I was going to watch him, but... I left the room for a few minutes to take care of a call from my college, and when I came back, he was gone! Argh... Damn that friggin' bear. So he just ran off!? I should have figured... The stupid costume was gone too, after all. But why the Amagi Inn? He doesn't even go there usually...!"_

Right... Teddie said that too. That he didn't 'visit Yuki-chan enough'...

"...To me, Teddie claimed that he was bored at home because you were at work, and that that was why he came by." I found myself replying and I know I must have sounded somewhat stumped. I really was. Why would Teddie lie about something like that?

"_Work? No way! I don't have a single shift today!"_

"I don't understand it either! ...But..."

But... What? Part of me felt as if I understood something. But I wasn't quite sure what. Only when I laid eyes on the chaos again, especially the spilled spices, that 'something' came to me. I remembered Teddie's face when he was down there. That scared look on his face, that didn't seem like him at all.

Now I finally recognized the expression. It was the face of someone who felt absolutely helpless.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Messenger of Fire<strong>

He held her tight. It was already all over and all danger had passed, yet, he felt a desire to keep his arms wrapped around her. He was scared. He had no idea whatever it was that just happened, but it scared him.

"...Iori-kun. You're hurting me."

"O...Oh."

This word in her voice was enough to chase another shower down his back, so he lost no time to let go and take a step back as she said it. 'Hurting', she said. He caused her to be 'in pain'...

...No, that wasn't right. What caused her to be in pain were the Shadows. He protected her. He had kept her safe. If anything, it were the Shadows that had hurt her. But she couldn't understand that. He knew she couldn't. After all, there was no way she would remember... Not about Shadows or about anything else.

So, to her... He would never be her 'hero' right? Only the object of her puzzled stares as she tried to process what had just happened. He felt the need to try and explain, even though he knew it would only be a second-rate explanation, coming from him.

"Um... Yoshino-san..."

"I told you before that you can call me 'Chidori'."

...No, he couldn't. She couldn't understand that, but there was no way he could call her that. Not now, when she was looking at him like this. Not when she couldn't remember a thing.

"...What happened just now? What were these... These 'things'...?"

The silence that followed her words left Junpei just as clueless as it left Chidori. It wasn't that he didn't understand what kind of situation they had just been in or that he didn't want to explain... But it was just so hard to find a way to start. There was too much that wanted to come out of him. Right here, right now. He wanted to see the things he was thinking reflected in her light-brown eyes.

Calling Yukari had been useless. He had known that in advance, of course. If he couldn't even begin to explain to Chidori, how should it have been any different explaining the complexity of not being able to explain to a friend over the phone? Junpei sighed. Things were always over his head, even if he was right involved in them. This was something that had never changed. But it felt so strange, being left on his own with things like these, that he had always tackled together with friends before.

When the sound of the shower stopped, Junpei abruptly turned his head to look at the bathroom door - then, quickly closed his eyes, clawing his fingers into the sheets of the bed he was sitting on. Right, what if she were to step out, wearing nothing but a towel? Part of Junpei's brain was very excited at the thought of being able to witness that - but his respect for Chidori was far stronger. He shook his head and kept his eyes shut, as soft steps approached the door and it was finally opened. Eyes shut. Eyes shut, tightly shut, don't look, don't be that kind of guy -

"...Iori-kun, what are you doing?"

Her voice in his ears caused the mental image of her anger that he had built to disappear at once. There wasn't any rage in her voice. Only confusion.

Junpei opened his eyes. Chidori was in front of him, fully dressed in a rose-colored dress with frills and a decent plaid pattern, poofy-sleeves and a small bow with a flower on it, just above her chest. There was another bow on the side of her head too and her hair long, straight hair was tied up in a ponytail with a braid bound into it. Every time he saw her like this, Junpei couldn't help but think of how bright and upbeat she seemed, even if she did look like a giant birthday present...

His staring at her was awkward. He knew that well. This was probably a good time to say something...

"Umm... I... Umm... Just... Didn't wanna bother you! Yeah, so..."

"Why? I was the one who told you to come here in first place. Why would it bother me if you see me?"

"Umm... Well..."

"I wouldn't come out in a towel knowing that you are here. That wouldn't make any sense."

"..."

Not only did she get him, she got him good. Again and again, Junpei found himself surprised by how perceptive Chidori had become of his behavior. Maybe that was only normal, given for how long they had been friends now, but even so, this was the first time he had come to her apartment like this. Yet, she had just read him like an open book...

"Umm, so... Do you feel any better now?" Junpei still felt awkward and wanted to change the topic, but the concern in his voice was genuine.

Chidori nodded, "Yes, a lot... Even if I am still so very confused..."

Turning around while she was still speaking, Chidori took a step to the side and sat down on the bed, next to Junpei.

"It was all so sudden. I still don't understand what actually happened to us..."

"Well... I told you. We were attacked by Shadows."

"But... What is a 'Shadow'...?"

And this was where it became difficult. After all, how to correctly answer a question which's answer you had never been all that sure of yourself? Sure, he knew the basics, the stuff they had been told, had learned, but it never really sunk in with him that well. Shadows were just... The enemy. Monsters. You hit them with something and they go up in smoke. You don't and they'll do bad stuff. That's what he understood. But he felt that this wasn't what Chidori needed to know. No, knowing her, she would rather know reasons. Explanations. Something more grounded in her own life. But these were things that had been removed from her life. How to make her understand them? Junpei hadn't thought that he would ever be having this conversation with Chidori.

"Shadows are... Something like the deeper sides of people. Like, the ones you don't usually see," he rubbed the back of his head. "When they come out, they turn into monsters. Like the ones we've seen, right? They're pretty dangerous for people when they're out in the open like this. But not just anyone can go up against them. You need to have something like...a special 'thing'."

"And you have that special thing," Chidori interrupted him. "I saw it, just a little bit. You... Protected me, didn't you?"

"Well..."

'Protecting her'. Was it really that? He fought Shadows because that's what he knew how to do. He'd have fought them if she hadn't been there as well. But he also held her when they attacked. He still remembered her touch... He had pulled her so close to herself at that time, he could even still remember the rhythm of her heartbeat. 'If you want her, you have to go through me, first.' That was what he had been thinking at the time. But really him throwing his arms around her and holding her didn't really constitute much to her protection in the end, now that thought about it. If anything, it distracted him from letting Trismegistus hit his attacks perfectly. And the Shadows hadn't been all too strong. If he had carried a weapon on him at the time, using his Persona would have been unnecessary entirely. So, was it really fair to call this 'protecting her'? When he did nothing he wouldn't have done if it hadn't been for her...?

"I couldn't see much because you were holding me all the time," she continued. "But I saw a light coming from you. It was warm. And then, there was a sound as if something was being cut. That was you fighting off those creatures, right?"

"...Ah...Yeah." Junpei nodded. She had understood it perfectly.

"I see..."

There was a short silence between them. Chidori then raised her head and looked at Junpei. Though it was clear that she got the gist of what was going on, her puzzled expression hadn't disappeared.

"...Is this something you have been doing for long?" she asked.

"...Yeah," it was hard to get these things out without hesitating. "Ever since before we first met, actually."

This was true, no matter from what perspective. He didn't meet Chidori until after he had gained his Persona. Of course, the Chidori he met first was the Strega Member. That was an important distinction to make... At least it had always been. What was happening right now was blurring the lines, making Junpei wonder how far he could go with the things to say or the assumptions to make. It was the source of a lot of the awkwardness he felt right now.

In any case, hearing Junpei's words, Chidori seemed a little surprised. Clearly, she had not been expecting him to be this acquainted with this kind of thing. She shook her head a little and put a hand to her forehead.

"So... I've had a friend like this all this time? Someone with an amazing secret like that...?"

"I-It's nothing special, really," Junpei looked away. "A bunch of other people can do it, too... I'm not even that strong..."

"You've been fighting monsters!" Chidori argued. "That is nothing that shouldn't be called 'special'! But it's so hard to believe... I never before noticed anything out of the ordinary about you, Iori-kun."

"Nothing, huh...?"

In a way, despite all he had said, hearing this was a bit like a kick in the stomach to Junpei.

But the feeling of sickness quickly disappeared when Junpei turned and saw Chidori's expression. She was leaning a little forward, both her hands supporting her on the bed. There was a gentle smile on her face.

"I'm so lucky you were with me... Without you, I wouldn't have known what to do..." she paused. "It's a bit frustrating, actually. To think of how powerless I was..."

"...You're not powerless," Junpei said and again, he looked away.

"I have no power," Chidori said, as if that formulation made any difference. "I have been thinking about this fact a lot lately, to be honest. That there are things I wish to do, but I am afraid that my own weakness might hold me back. I decided to overcome this weakness, so I would be able to finally make a step towards my wish, and in order to do so, I believe I must first let go of fear. Still... If I can find myself in a situation I am still helpless in, even while just simply waiting for a subway train with a friend, like today... What do I have to do to overcome this helplessness...?"

There was a strange gleaming of eagerness in Chidori's eyes, but she was also biting her lip. It seemed as if she was conflicted. Junpei decided to speak up.

"Is it so bad, to be helpless sometimes? I mean, you've got people to help you, right? Like, umm... Yeah, like me. ...I wouldn't let you down, you know."

"Yes, and I am thankful for that. But if it's a wish I have to fulfill for myself, then I can't only rely on others to stand by me to make it come true," Chidori replied. "There will be times when you won't be there for me, no matter the reason. I know such times have to exist. We might even lose sight of each other..."

"I... I won't let that happen!" Junpei was surprised at himself. He had raised his voice so suddenly...

Chidori, however, shook her head, "I have lost sight of so many things in my life. It's alright, though. I understand that nothing is eternal. That's what gives every moment its beauty."

There was a serene smile on her face, but it only made Junpei feel uncomfortable. He found himself lowering his head, as if to escape her gaze.

"I'd still want to make things last. I mean, aren't you scared?" he asked. "Won't you be... Hurt when you lose these things?"

There was a short silence. The smile on Chidori's face disappeared. She leaned forward a little, but though her head was lowered now, the eager look in her eyes only became more determined,

"I will be hurt. Some things will always cause me pain. But... That's just why I have to be strong for myself. I have to fulfill my wish."

"Your wish, huh...?"

Junpei didn't move. He knew Chidori's wish. He was the only one she had ever told about it. He, her best friend... Junpei Iori, the stranger, who stood by Chidori Yoshino ever since the day she had been released from the hospital all those years ago, with no memories to call her own and no home to go to.

"...Fire... A bird..." Chidori's voice was low and full of yearning. "...A Bird of Fire, a Messenger from the Skies. And the warmest person I ever knew..."

His eyes were averted and Junpei said nothing. As always, even now, all he could say, he didn't want to say. At least not with all his heart. He never wanted to deceive Chidori again.

Regardless of the truth, he just couldn't be a "Bird of Fire, Messenger from the Skies". He was just Junpei. Junpei, the Baseball Coach. That was a strength he didn't possess.


	6. Chapter 5: Advection

**Chapter 5 - Kanji: ****Standby**

OK, let's be serious here. I love my friends as much as the next guy. But there's just some things I ain't putting up with, y'know?

Having about four days of work destroyed is definitely one of them.

So, I was standing right in front of the door to Yosuke-senpai's house and didn't need to ring the doorbell twice before he was already opening up for me. That's the one thing Senpai's good at, getting to places quickly. He's also pretty good at making faces, but I'm not sure if my own face was looking that much better than whatever his mug was doing when he saw me. I guess we probably looked about the same anyway. It's really no surprise. After all, I did come there carrying Teddie wrapped up in about a 100 meter of thread and string under my left arm. Was quite a hassle, I'm telling you, because Ted just wouldn't stop wriggling around in his 10.000 Yen cocoon and whining all the way long. Why'd that have to happen to me, dammit...?

"...Teddie, what the hell?"

Well, at least Yosuke-senpai's with me on that one.

"Y-Yosuke, save me!" Teddie's whining continued just as annoying as it'd been the whole past hour. "I'm a-all ensnared in this b-bear-trap!"

Senpai didn't look very impressed by Teddie's begging and pretty much just ignored what he had said. Instead, he turned to me.

"Kanji. What did he do?" he asked me dully, and there were some pretty deep wrinkles under his eyes. He looked like he really wanted to groan. I did my best to not yell when I replied, but that was pretty hard to do.

"This idiot here suddenly came in and made Ma show him the way to my room. Said he was coming to 'help me out', whatever the hell that means. Next thing I know, he's gotten his dirty paw-prints all over a scarf I dyed just the other day and completely torn open the high-quality yarn that was supposed to become that plush I'd been working on, then he went and got himself completely tangled in it, too..."

I pushed Teddie to Senpai and showed him what I meant. He took a closer look at the little guy. There was a kind of glare in Yosuke-senpai's eyes.

"I see..." he sighed.

"Oh, y'do? Well, that's great, but that won't bring back my yarn!"

Even if it was probably kinda mean of me, I really wasn't in the mood to take an 'I see' or crap like that from anyone, so I dropped the bear right on the stairs, to Yosuke-senpai's feet. There was a funny squeaking sound when Ted hit the ground, but that didn't really lighten the mood of either, me or my Senpai a whole lot.

"'Helping out' my ass! He wouldn't even listen to a thing I said! Hey, Senpai! Aren't you supposed to be, like, that guys' big brother or something now? Maybe you could start by teaching him not to just burst in and screw up other people's business!"

"Hey, just cause we're family, it doesn't mean you need to blame it on me!" Yosuke-senpai snarled back at once, but then he stopped and took a deep breath in. Now that I looked again, he seemed pretty pale. "...Listen, I'm sorry about that yarn. Um, and that scarf, too. I'm gonna try and replace it all from my paycheck, OK? Just... Please gimme a little space. It's bad enough I let Teddie just run off. I guess I really shouldn't have asked about the damage he caused..."

"Yosuke, I'm sorry..."

It already surprised me how apologetic Yosuke-senpai was getting so quickly, but Teddie's voice interrupting him took me completely off-guard too. Teddie was still too tangled in his yarn-mess to get up onto his stubble-feet, but he had stopped flailing around now and was looking up at my Senpai. The look on his face was actually pretty sad. Nothing like his usual moaning at all. But Yosuke-senpai only glanced at him for a moment, let his forehead wrinkle like he was angry, but then looked away and sighed again. I thought it was weird, seeing how Yosuke-senpai was usually always stubbornly on the defensive about stuff like this, and how Teddie didn't usually jump to apologize like this a whole lot. Somehow, they were both acting pretty off today...

"Hey, Senpai..." I tried not to think about my projects that Ted had screwed up for a bit and spoke as calmly as I could "What's that about you 'letting Teddie run off'? Is he... Grounded or stuff?"

And then I remembered something. Right, didn't the two of them get in some kinda incident just the other day? Was that related somehow? At first thought, it didn't think like that'd make a whole lot of sense, but, on the other hand, what else did make sense? Even if I had no clue how Teddie passing out had anything to do with him suddenly deciding to check out my room out of the blue.

"I... Kinda don't..." Yosuke-senpai stopped himself mid-sentence again. His eyes had been on Teddie when he started talking, but now he was looking away again. Another sigh. That guy was really having a rough day, huh? "...Actually, nevermind. It'd probably really be better to try to talk about it. Let me just try and get Teddie back to bed first, OK?"

"Yosuke, I..."

Teddie again, but he wasn't really talking in full sentences here either. That 'I' never went anywhere. He just fell back silent as soon as my Senpai turned back to look at him. And then, it was a just the two of them being awkward, like they didn't know whether to look at each other or not. Usually, Yosuke-senpai and Teddie were always arguing about pointless stuff, trying to make themselves 'right' and make the other one 'wrong', but right now, they looked like they weren't even sure about who was right and who was wrong themselves.

Finally, Yosuke-senpai said something.

"Teddie. You scared us all to death. I hope you know that. And I also hope you also know that there's absolutely nothing funny about that. There's a reason Mom told you to stay in bed. But you go and just leave without telling anyone... What were you even thinking?"

"..."

Teddie stayed quiet. No moaning, no yelling back... Nothing. For the first time since I'd come here, Senpai now kept looking straight at him without taking his eyes off.

"...Go back to bed. We're gonna talk about this later, once Mom is back."

"...Yes..."

Teddie said that 'Yes', but it was really only a tiny bit of a sound. Mostly, he was just nodding his head and cowering. If I hadn't known any better, I'd have said he looked almost like he was ashamed of something.

What happened next was that Yosuke-senpai tried to get Ted upstairs, but since he was still tangled of what was left of my plush and carrying the bear all the way upstairs didn't really work, we ended up cutting open just enough of the string to get to his zipper and get him out. Yosuke-senpai then led him up to their room by his hand. Meanwhile, I stayed down in their living room and tried to pick whatever yarn I could still save off Teddie's bear-suit and roll it up as neatly as I could. I wasn't gonna make a whole plush from this anymore, but at least some knit-dolls should be in it, I thought. It was a good thing I had my glasses on, otherwise I would have had trouble telling the strings from the fur in a lot of places, since the color was pretty similar. Ah, right, by 'glasses', I mean my everyday glasses, not the shades Teddie gave me two years back. As cool as those look, they wouldn't do much for my bad eyesight. I used to wear contacts, but they're really not that good when you want to do a lot of precise work. So once I decided to stop bleaching my hair, I switched to wearing normal glasses too. Thanks to all that fighting in the TV world, I already had gotten pretty used to the feeling of it, so the switch wasn't that big a deal.

Yosuke-senpai came back downstairs while I was in the middle of working on the yarn. He didn't bother me with it, just asked me if I wanted anything to drink, a tea or a coffee. He said his parents had a pretty good coffee maker. I told him tea would be fine. A few minutes later, he came back from the kitchen with a cup of green tea for me and a large mug of black coffee for himself.

"Kinda got a taste for it lately," Yosuke-senpai laughed at the surprised face I made when I saw his drink, but he sounded pretty tired even then. "It helped me with staying up late, studying for the entrance exams. Yu sent me the recipe so I wouldn't keep buying cheap coffee in Okina after cram school. Though, I guess if he knew how much I'm drinking of this now, he wouldn't be happy either. Heh..."

"If you got the recipe from Yu-senpai, then it's probably the same stuff Dojima-san likes, right?" I replied, still way more focused on rolling up yarn than on what I was actually saying. I hadn't touched my own cup yet, either. "I mean, I don't think I ever saw Yu-senpai drink coffee anywhere except when we were over at their place. And even then, it was always Dojima-san making it."

"Huh? You mean... I'm drinking Police-Detective Coffee right now?"

Yosuke-senpai sounded so confused, he made it sound like it were special or something. I just shrugged. I didn't think it was that important. Coffee's coffee, right? I just mentioned it because it came to my mind. I was just surprised he was drinking that stuff to begin with. I guess it wasn't that important to Senpai either, because right after my shrug, he put the mug away and sat down next to me.

"That's kinda funny, actually," he finally said something again. Even though I was still busy salvaging yarn, I listened up. "I mean, my deduction skills aren't exactly all that great. Especially not right now..."

"Hm? What'cha talking about?"

Another sigh from Senpai.

"I just can't figure out Teddie..."

"So? Neither can anyone else. That a problem now?"

"That's not what I mean. It's just... Lately, I can figure him out even less than before."

Yosuke-senpai let his head fall back and stared at the ceiling. He looked really exhausted.

"He's been acting weird... Just yesterday, he was still chipper and cheery, but ever since that Shadow Attack happened, he's just been acting off. First he talks about hearing voices, then he keeps asking way too many questions, then he totally ignores it when we're telling him he can stay in bed all day - you don't understand, he usually always wants to stay in bed - and then he suddenly runs off, just to show up first with Yukiko-san, then with you? Teddie may be random, but this isn't ... It somehow doesn't feel like him, y'know?"

"I dunno. Doesn't being random kinda mean that you really won't know how he's going to act next?" I was making good progress. At this rate, 2-3 more rolls and I'd have recovered all the yarn that I could still use. "Sure, Teddie's never just come by my place like that before either. But maybe that's just, like... A thing a bear does? Once a year or so? There's stuff like that, right?"

"Hm... Yeah, maybe..."

"Then again, maybe it's not. I thought he was acting off, too. Maybe it's a phase or something? Like, bear puberty?"

"...Yeah... Could be..."

"So bears really do go through puberty too, huh..."

"...You're really getting hung up on that 'bear' thing, aren't you?"

Senpai threw me an odd look that kind of caught from the corner of my eye. I didn't understand why, but somehow, it let me know I probably said something stupid, huh? ...I got flustered.

"I-I'm just sayin', OK!? At least I've got some ideas, don't I?"

"Yeah, but your ideas all sound like you want me to call the vet on Teddie!" he continued to give me the odd look for a while longer. "...Still, you've got a point. At least you've got an idea. Meanwhile, I'm just... Like..."

That's another sentence that never really got finished. Senpai gave his deepest sigh yet. I finished rolling up the third-to-last roll of yarn, just when he continued explaining.

"...Oh man. I already really suck at this 'Big Brother' thing, don't I? I mean, it's not like Teddie's only my responsibility, but... Mom and Dad don't know the whole truth about him. If there's anything wrong with him that he can't tell them about, he's only really got me to rely on. So I figure I should be doing a better job at being his family. But right now, I somehow don't even really know how to ask him what's wrong... Ahh. I wish I knew what Yu would do."

"Senpai'd probably... Go and talk to Teddie? I mean, that's what he always does when someone's got a problem, right?"

"But that's just it! I can't do that! ...I mean, I can... But somehow, it just feels like I won't get anywhere... y'know?"

"You won't know until you try, though."

"...Yeah... I guess that's right..."

He said that, but he sounded so much more frustrated than actually relieved. I could hear him take another gulp of that coffee of his. It was pretty sad actually, how much he was beating himself up over this. After all, I seriously didn't see any actual proof he was really doing as badly as he said he did.

"Y'know, you really shouldn't do what I think is best or what Yu-senpai thinks is best, though. You should do your own thing."

"...My own thing?"

"Yeah. Like... Wanting to be a good brother or something like it to Teddie. That's kinda already your thing, right? It's a goal, isn't it?" I carefully kept wrapping string into a roll in my hand. "Everyone's got something they're decided on doing, not because it's the only thing they can do, but because they want to do it. Like, Rise's thing is her idol business, my thing's working to take over Ma's shop... Stuff like that. And I guess you can have more than one thing, too. So, trying to do the best for everyone... I guess that's sorta your thing?"

Yosuke-senpai stayed quiet for a moment.

"I dunno. Isn't that more Yu's thing?"

"What'dya mean 'more'? It can be both your thing, can't it?"

"...Actually, yeah. I guess you're right."

And somehow right there, we had some sort of... Breakthrough or something, I guess. And I'm not talking about me finishing up that second-to-last roll of yarn. What I mean is that Yosuke-senpai started smiling at me at this point. And it was an actual smile, not another forced one, like before. I guess somehow I did manage to make him perk up a bit. Good. I let myself smile a bit too. Kinda funny that my Senpai could be cheered up the same way as the daycare kids in my H.E. courses, but, hey, I wasn't gonna complain about that. Well, maybe it was still a bit more difficult. Because even though Yosuke-senpai was smiling now, he kept talking about the problem.

"But you know, even if wanting to do my best for everyone... And if wanting to be reliable to my family and friends is really my 'thing'... I guess that might just be why it's so difficult right now."

"Hm?"

I wasn't sure what Yosuke-senpai was talking about, so I perked my ears, trying to get ahold on the next string of yarn - except that I couldn't find it. Surprised, I kept leading my hand up and down the fluffy, fluffy fur, but didn't find anything in it that didn't belong there. That was odd. I was sure that there had been one more piece of string...

...I looked up. Yosuke-senpai had gotten out of his chair and was standing right in front of me, bent over.

"I try my hardest to be reliable for everyone, you know. But there are some things I just can't do. Like... Read minds or... Be in two places at once that are far away from each other. I can't lead a life for someone else and abandon what I wanted to do for myself just for that. But if that means disappointing someone, it becomes a headache as well...I guess, I just don't like the idea of people having expectations in me that I can't fulfill."

Senpai had a hand stretched out to me. There was a roll of yarn in it. My yarn. The missing, last string. Had he been rolling up one on his own without me realizing?

"Much rather, I'd exceed the expectations that people have in me. That makes me feel like I accomplished something. I know, that probably sounds cocky, but it's true."

"..."

I took the roll of yarn Yosuke-senpai had rolled up for me and took a closer look at it. It was about the same size as the ones I had rolled up... But the yarn was all over the place, not neatly wrapped around the center in a system, but chaotic, tangled almost as badly as it had been around Teddie's fur.

"...Seriously, Senpai... You suck at this."

At once, Yosuke-senpai's smile dropped, and so did his shoulders and his head. Yet another sigh,

"Yeah, yeah, just go and rub it in... At least I tried to help, OK? Isn't that worth some appreciation!?"

Yeah, it was. But that was something he had to figure for himself. It was the same with the kids at the daycare. If you didn't let them figure these things for themselves, they'd always be clinging to the other kids and the adults and never learn to appreciate themselves.

That's just how it is.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5 - Advection<strong>

All his belongings were in boxes by now, or at least that's what it felt like. The bits that he still kept in drawers and shelves were only the most necessary. He found himself wondering if these would even be things he would be taking with him either way. He didn't need much. Traveling with light baggage always felt more comfortable to him and, in fact the sight of his possessions enclosed in cardboard right now was one that he found surprisingly comforting. This was really going to be it, wasn't it? The start of another journey. In a way, he felt very excited, but also calm and at ease with the thought of where his way might take him from here. It may be because this time, just this once, he wouldn't be entering this new part of his life entirely empty-handed. There was one thing he was allowed to take with him into the new, strange lands he was entering. One bond...

It may have been an overly poetic way of thinking, but Yu Narukami couldn't help but feel about it that way. The fact that Yosuke, against the so-called "Prince of Disappointments' "own expectations, had managed to pass the infamously devilish entrance exams of Meiji U on his first try had already been elating news to Yu. Yosuke's subsequent decision to become Yu's roommate had turned this treat of a development into an overly delicious cake to the point that even right now, Yu still found himself occasionally searching out the e-mail Yosuke had sent him a few weeks ago and smiling at it. They were going to be living together. Him and his best friend and partner. He would have someone to say 'I'm home' to when he came through the door... An actual home again. It was a thought that didn't fail to improve his mood whenever he just as much as remembered it.

And yet...

An idea entered Yu's mind as he was still looking over the boxes and he found his smile falling a little. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Before he knew it, he held his cellphone in his hand and was browsing through his mail history... There it was.

_[2/20/13 - Yosuke Hanamura] hey any chance of u comin over next week? i kno its unlikely, but were gonna be having a party cause teddies adotion. Would be more fun w/ u._

_[2/20/13 - You] I'm really sorry, but I can't. Even with all exams passed, there is a lot I still need to take care of before moving to the campus. I wish I could come._

_[2/20/13 - Yosuke Hanamura] no prob, rly, i knew u probably wouldnt be able to. c u next semester then?_

_[2/27/13 -You] Yosuke, I wanted to ask about the time your train is gonna arrive in Chiyoda next month. I want to make sure I won't miss you._

_[2/27/13 - You] Also, I am sorry again that I wasn't able to come to the party. I was thinking I could make up for it next Golden Week, though. I was thinking we could go and pick out a present for Teddie together? You probably know his tastes best._

_[2/27/13 - Yosuke Hanamura] dude i already told u no picking me up from the station! :-I i can handle that! u focus on movinin urself. _

_[2/27/13 - Yosuke Hanamura] oh bout that party. nevermind that yeah. getting a present for golden week seems leik a plan. u dont wanna kno his taste tho _. lets just get candy or a game 4 him. _

He kept reading over the message again and again. As unusual at it seemed, he couldn't help but feel worried by it. "Nevermind that"? What did that mean? It was a subtle difference, but Yu felt that if this had just been Yosuke trying to tell Yu to not worry about it again, he would have said something else, like "It's no problem" or "Not like you had a choice". A "Nevermind" gave him more of the impression that Yosuke just didn't want to talk about it anymore. Why? Did something happen at the party? Of course, it was very possible that Yu was just over-interpreting here, but he still had to wonder how his friends were doing. There was a tiny fear in his chest that he couldn't really explain... Just a faint feeling that something that he had no idea about was happening and he was in no way able to influence it.

Yu's thoughts drifted off, far away. Despite their separation, he had always kept contact with his friends. At least one short mail exchange per month had always taken place and so he had stayed somewhat informed of what had been going on with everyone. But even retaining the contact with his friends didn't replace his actual physical presence in Inaba. He was unable to see how their lives were going and to experience the things they wouldn't tell him about, even if the feeling of being connected remained. In a way, this made him feel lonelier than ever, though he didn't hold any regrets. It wasn't a kind of loneliness that made him feel truly 'alone'. Much more, it was a feeling of helplessness, he supposed. His friends were part of his life. Not knowing how exactly they were doing made him uneasy. Being only able to ask questions and hope for sincere answers, regardless of his own feelings... Was a position that made him feel a little weaker than he'd have liked to be.

Dwelling on these thoughts wouldn't change anything, however. Yu knew that all too well. It was just much easier said than done to actually let go of them, he supposed. With a deep sigh on his lips, Yu was just about to slip his cellphone back into his pocket when a sensation shook him. The phone was vibrating in his hand. A call...?

The chipper, bouncy ringtone - one of the many ones Yu had handpicked to represent every single of his more important phone contacts - let him know who exactly it was that was trying to reach him, and a glimpse on the screen confirmed it further. The western letters _"MARIE"_ were flashing at him brightly in tact with the music. Yu's finger wandered to the green phone symbol and pushed. He put the device to his ear.

"Narukami speaking. Hello?"

_"Hey."_

The flat response came in a very unmistakable tone and voice. Yu smiled a little.

"Marie. I haven't heard from you in a while. Nice to speak to you."

_"Yeah... I'm glad to talk to you too. It's really been a while, huh?"_ Marie's voice, which had started out rather monotonous, gradually became warmer as she continued to speak. _"You know, you could really visit more. There's a lot of trains. And there's weekends. It's unfair staying away for god-knows-how-long. Tsk..."_

Yu laughed a little hearing the complaints, "I'm sorry. It's really not that easy. If I could, I'd be coming all the time. But I'm going to be over in May. You can wait that long, right?"

_"I-It's not because of me!"_ Marie's voice retorted with a sense of shock. _"There's the others too, you know! All those weirdos... I go to check on them, but all we ever end up talking about is you. It gets kind of old after a while..."_

"Ah, is that so?" The longer this conversation carried on, the more Yu found himself compelled to grin brighter and brighter. Marie was the brand of friend that tended to make him feel like a parent trying to take care of an awkward child... It was really a good feeling to hear her familiar voice. "Are you sure they're always talking about me? Maybe that's just the only thing that you can think of right now, off the top of your head, because you are speaking to me, after so long?"

_"Yeah... Maybe you're right,"_ there was a sigh from Marie's end. _"But it'd still be better if you came over more..."_

Marie both letting off and staying insistent at the same time made Yu feel a little wistful. He could feel her sincerity. Yes, of course the others missed him. He felt the same. But in life, it was impossible to just stay in one place, often even if that place was the home of the people you love. That was one of the many things he had learned over the past couple of years. Of course, he also understood that this was probably a little harder to digest for someone like Marie. He had to remember that she was technically barely two years old...

"Hey... Are you getting out enough?" Yu asked. "I know you, you're not the type to go out a lot on your own. But Inaba is really a nice place. There's a lot of kind people aside from us eight there. You should go out and strike up a conversation with someone at Junes or in the Shopping District. Or you could go out with your colleagues at the newscasting studio..."

_"I'm fine. And it's not like I don't have any friends! Geez, you sound like Margaret already,"_ there was an irritated undertone in Marie's voice, making Yu feel worried that he overdid it a bit. _"I told you, didn't I? I can take care of myself. And also..."_

For a moment, Marie fell silent. The ensuing pause was long enough for Yu to sharpen his ears just in time to hear the words she whispered next clearly.

_"...Right now, I wouldn't want to go out anyway, even if I were lonely..."_

"Hm?"

This surprised Yu. What did she mean by that? Did he miss something? In fact, he probably did... Yu was well aware that given how far he was away, there was no way for him to know how Marie had really been feeling recently. It was the same as with Yosuke's recent mail.

_"Not like it matters,"_ Marie''s voice cut off Yu's flow of thoughts. _"That's not why I called you anyway. Actually, there was something I had to ask you."_

There it was again. The same, flat tone of voice Marie had greeted Yu with at the beginning of this call. Only now Yu noticed that actually, speaking in this manner, Marie sounded as if she were worried about something.

_"This is getting too long, so I'll get right to the point. Can you tell me... How many people do you think know that I'm Izanami? And who are they?"_

Yu held his breath for a moment. This strangely out-of-left-field question that Marie asked so casually took him entirely aback. Izanami? How many people knew? Where did that come from so suddenly?

"...Only the eight of us," Yu replied carefully, making sure not to forget anything. "Us, and the people from the Velvet Room. Nobody else should know. We didn't tell anybody else."

_"Are you... Really sure?"_ Marie's repeat of the question seemed to be pushing Yu.

"I am sure." Though she couldn't see it, he nodded, feeling a little stumped. Why was she so convinced there had to be someone else?

_"I see..."_

Marie's voice fell silent for another bit, and this time, it was a silence that conveyed her worry to Yu strong and clear. He could feel it, the fearful shaking of her heart. There was something that was troubling her, no doubt about it. Something must have happened.

"Marie... Marie, what's wrong? Can you tell me?"

_"No... It's nothing. Don't worry about it."_

She was lying. This couldn't be 'nothing'. Not when he could so clearly tell that she was scared of something. Yu's uneasy feeling returned, more intense than ever. What in the world was going on in Inaba?

_"Oh... And, one more thing,"_ Again, Marie's voice took Yu out of his thoughts._ "Do you have a weapon on you? Like, if you go out?"_

Yu gulped. A weapon, of all things? What was the meaning of this now?

"I don't. Carrying swords in public is... A bit problematic, to say the least." He didn't feel the need to mention that he had gotten arrested for this deed before.

Marie, however, apparently didn't consider Yu's unarmed state good news. "_Get yourself a weapon. It doesn't have to be a sword. Just... Something to defend yourself with. Aside from your Persona. You need to carry that around."_

Yu paused for a few seconds.

"...I'll get myself a bottle of pepper-spray," he replied.

_"Can you set that on fire?"_ Marie asked.

"With a match, maybe," Yu answered again. "Actually, I don't really know. I think it depends on the brand."

_"Get the brand that burns,"_ Marie's voice sounded downright commanding. _"Carry that on you. And matches too."_

As Yu was still wondering how exactly this conversation had ended up at the point of a contemplation of how to best engage in self-defense by turning pepper spray into a makeshift flame-thrower, Marie was already talking again.

_"...Alright. That would be all. I'll be hanging up now."_

"Marie. Are you really alright?"

Yu spoke quickly, before Marie could cut him off. He knew that she wouldn't have given him the chance to say another few words willingly. His words prompted yet more silence from her end, followed by the textbook example of a non-response.

_"There's nothing you got to worry about, OK? Just... Take care of yourself. And come over soon."_

"Marie..."

_"I'm hanging up now. See you."_

The slight static and sound of Marie's voice changed into the bleeping tones of phone provider's signals. Marie had ended the call. What was left were Yu and his thoughts. He lowered the phone from his head and gazed at the floor. His heart was pounding. The feeling of unease had returned to him and was now changing into outright dread.

This wasn't just his 'hunch' anymore. This was more than enough for him to consider solid proof. Something had happened in Inaba. Inaba, where his friends were. Faraway from where he was. If he wanted to know what it was, he would have to ask and risk receiving untrue answers. If he wanted to know how his friends were, it would be the same. And most of all, there was absolutely nothing he could do to take effect on whatever might be happening.

There was no way he could help... Was there?


End file.
